Breaking the Fourth Wall/Western Animation

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • In too many children's cartoons to name, dialogue, violence, or risque material gets censored or nixed before it starts, either by the characters or the narrator. The reason? "We can't show that on a kid's program!"
  • Dora the Explorer and Blue's Clues use this to try and teach skills to the children, becoming very quickly annoying to any viewer over the age of five.
  • The Weekenders loves doing this:
    • Tino often talks to the audience by having the background turn grey.
    • At the end of "Listen Up", Carver talks about the plot until the camera turns away. He comes close to the screen and knocks on it. Suddenly, the show fades out and he complains about the fading. Seeing as there's no other choice, he says "LATER DAYS!!!!"
  • Western Animation/Arthur doesn't just love the fourth wall, it's married to it. People often talk about the show, tell the cameraman to go to the episode's title card, talk to the audience at the beginning of the episode and even look at the audience.
  • In Mulan II, Shang walks away and Yao asks Mulan, "What's his problem?" When Mulan walks away, he asks the screen, "What's her problem?" Then he asks, "Who am I talking to?"
  • The Lion King, in the middle of "Hakuna Matata".

Pumbaa: And I got downhearted...
Timon: How did you feel!?
Pumbaa: Every time that I--
Timon: (slaps hands over Pumbaa's mouth) PUMBAA! (looks at the fourth wall) Not in front of the kids!
Pumbaa: (also looks) Oh! Sorry.
Simba: (also looks, with a perplexed expression on his face)

  • One third-season episode of ReBoot featured Enzo and Dot hiding behind tombstones as a player looking like Ash (from Evil Dead) massacred zombies and ghosts in a game. They both express horror at the (offscreen) carnage and wonder what kind of sick, demented person would ever play a game like that... and both turn and glare at the camera.
    • There's also an incident during the first season in which Mike the TV is being particularly annoying, and Enzo asks "You want to live to see another season, right?" in an attempt to shut him up.
      • Since Mike is a TV and speaks often in TV-related lingo, Enzo might simply have been putting the threat into words Mike will be more likely to understand.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (first cartoon) frequently used this trope.
    • In one episode an ancient Japanese sorcerer gets summoned and starts threatening the Turtles in English. One turtle says, "If he's from ancient Japan, why is he speaking English?" Another replies, "Because we can't afford subtitles."
    • In another episode one turtle constantly suggests that the strange things happening are a work of Krang and Shredder (the usual villains). The other disagrees each time until saying "In fact they don't appear in this episode at all."
    • Even better, one episode has Shredder in As You Know Mode explaining the effects of Krang's mind control device, to which Krang responds "Why are you explaining this to me? I invented it!" Shredder's reply: "I wasn't explaining it to you." (points to camera) "I was explaining it to them!"
    • "Will you leave off it already? He's not even in this episode!"
    • Donatello trying to bring April up to speed on the episode so far:

Donatello: Do we have time for a flashback?
April: It's your show.

    • A recurring moment whenever a dangerous stunt is or being performed, mostly Raphael will tell kids not to try this at home.
    • A very unusual double example in the episode Return of the Shredder. April finishes a news broadcast by saying "Whoever you are, thanks." then winks at the camera, leading to this hilarious exchange.

Donatello:She was winking at me, you know.
Michelangelo: You're totally warped dude! She was winking at me!
Raphael: Get real you guys! It was meant for yours truly!
Leonardo: I hate to argue fellows, but I think she meant it for me.
April: *Still talking through the TV* Cool it fellas. If you must know, I was winking at Splinter!
Splinter: Age has its privileges. *Winks at camera*

  • Used straight, and topped with a turtle themed green lampshade in Turtles Forever. When 80's version Raphael keeps breaking the fourth wall, other characters pause with confused looks. The third time he does it, The Dragon gets angry and starts shaking him. "Why do you keep doing that? Who are you talking to?! THERE'S NO ONE THERE!"
    • When it comes to it, this is the whole plot of the movie. The 2003 Shredder learns about the fourth wall and decides to destroy it forever.
  • Subverted in Jimmy Timmy Power Hour 2. Multiple times in the movie, ****** appears to be asking the viewers a question before the camera cuts to behind him, revealing that he's actually talking to Libby.
  • In the Superhero Episode of The Fairly OddParents, Timmy and the Crimson Chin explain to the Nega-Chin his existence is controlled by the comic book writer. The villain decides to confront him.
  • Double Fourth Wall smashed--by Captain Planet and the Planeteers. In "Hog Tide", to keep the Planeteers' minds off the hurricane that's doing a number on Hope Island, Gaia tells a tall tale about fictional heroes based on the Planeteers. As usual, the fictional heroes combine their powers to form Captain Planet, and asked who he is. Captain Planet sings his own Ending Theme.

"I'm your powers, magnified. Haven't you heard the song? 'Captain Planet, he's a hero...'"

    • In an early episode, there is a normal & reverse Fourth Wall smash from the other side. This episode was the first time the Planeteers faced Zarm. After Zarm is sent away, the Planeteers talk about aliens and that people had to share the Earth. Wheeler states, "We get the hint. Your turn." A mystery voice says Captain Planet's catchphrase, "The Power is Yours" ending the show.
  • In the Japanese Gag Dub of Beast Wars, Rattrap would occasionally comment on what audience members were eating.
  • Happens on occasion on Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers. There are a few in-story occurrences, and a number in various episode endings. The most obvious ones are during Professor Nimnul's rants, when he seems quite aware of the camera's presence.
  • Family Guy toyed with this in "Fifteen Minutes of Shame", where they broke the fourth wall in a reality-TV Show Within a Show. Chris hung a lampshade on it with "Fourth wall! You're breaking the Fourth wall!"
    • What's especially funny about the example above is that it's a reality show, which acknowledges the fact that there's a camera there, so even though Peter is talking to the camera, it's not actually breaking the fourth wall any more than a TV news show would be because there's no pretense of not having a camera there.
    • Another episode had a pretty direct fourth-wall-breaking when Stewie mocked the cast of Desperate Housewives (which shared a timeslot with their show), then turned to the camera and encouraged the audience to switch over to ABC and look. "I'll wait. I'll wait five seconds. [pause] Oh my God, did you see? Did you see how old and ugly they all are??"
    • Very recently, Stewie broke from the current scene to start complaining about the banner ads promoting other shows that are commonly shown across the bottom of programs now (don't get me started). It started off as Medium Awareness, because Stewie was obviously cognizant of the fact that he's on a TV show. He then broke the Fourth Wall by telling the audience to enjoy the ads as they went to commercial.
    • In the episode "Dial Meg for Murder", Peter uses the TV Guide to find out what will happen.
    • Also, in "Saving Private Brian", after Brian discovers that Stewie got them into the army, he says that's ridiculous, and the Vaudeville duo come out and break into piano and dance. Stewie then shoots them with his pistol, and addresses the audience, "Okay, they're dead, alright? We're not gonna be seeing them again."
    • In the episode "Stew-Roids," there is a scene where Connie D'Amico (the main antagonist of the Griffin's daughter, Meg) is knocked unconscious. It appears Peter is coming to her aid ... until he decides to take advantage of the situation by touching her inappropriately. Just before he rubs his thing to her crotch, he glares and (as if looking at the audience) says, "It's just a cartoon, OK?"
  • In the Futurama episode "Fear of a Bot Planet", Fry and Leela are attempting to work out how to rescue Bender from a planet full of human-hating robots. Leela remarks, "If only I had two or three minutes to think about it," at which point it immediately cuts to a commercial break. When the show returns from commercial, Fry and Leela have worked out a plan and are enacting it.
  • An episode of Johnny Test did this as well. Johnny and his talking dog Dukey are trapped in an action movie (through the use of VR helmets created by his genius sisters), and when they realize how the movie's supposed to end (think Thelma & Louise) Dukey screams at Johnny "You couldn't have just stayed home and watched cartoons like normal kids!". Johnny and Dukey then pause and look at the audience before continuing to panic about getting out of the movie.
  • Multiple characters in Taz-Mania do this but Digeri Dingo is by far the most notorious.
  • Rocky and Bullwinkle's characters do this a lot. Particularly, the lead characters. When they reference things that happened in previous episodes, they actually say they happened in a previous episode. They talk to the narrator from time to time. And they also mention the conditions of the show.
    • At one point, the narrator was kidnapped, then shown tied up and gagged alongside Rocky and Bullwinkle (who were in the same fix). That's not just breaking the fourth wall, that's blowing it to smithereens!
  • Subverted at the end of the first part of the two-part Simpsons episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns?". Dr. Hibbert points straight at the camera, asking the viewers if they can solve the mystery, but a reveal a second later shows him to actually be pointing at Chief Wiggum, who is standing in front of him.
    • Played straight in "Pygmoelian," when Moe is upset about his picture being covered up on the Duff Calendar, and he realizes he's ugly. Carl tries to cheer him up, inadvertently insulting Lenny, Barney, and Homer. All four start sobbing, and Carl turns to the camera and says, "See this is why I don't talk much." Later in the same episode, a TV exec (not actually on TV himself) says "What the fudge?" with the word "fudge" beeped. And at the end, Moe lampshades the show's Reset Button and is cut off by the credits.
    • Also at the beginning of The Movie, where Homer complains about TV shows being recycled as feature films: "I can't believe we're paying to see something we get on T.V. for free! If you ask me, everyone in this audience is a giant sucker! (pointing at the camera) Especially you!"
    • In one episode, they talk about a home for TV/Film animals that aren't cute anymore. Snowball immediately perks up and does something to get attention.
    • There was also one gag in which, as an ad passed across the bottom of the screen, Homer ate it. Yes. The ad.
      • "Mmm...promo... Eeew! Fox!"
    • In one episode, a character (arguing that everything is plagiarized from everything else) mentions that Chief Wiggum is a ripoff of Edward G. Robinson... which is kind of true.
    • One episode has (Sideshow) Mel narrating. Just before the first commercial break, he says "And so Lisa entered the world of show business, and it is indeed a business, as you'll find in 3... 2... 1..."
    • Done in a (faux) Nightmare Fuel-inducing way in "Attack of the 50-Foot Eyesores", a segment of one of their Halloween specials in which giant mock-ups of famous advertising characters come to life and almost succeed in destroying Springfield. At the end of the story, after the creatures have been vanquished, Kent Brockman turns to his TV audience (and thus, to us) and warns that "the next ad you see could kill you and all of your loved ones!" Homer then casually steps in front of Kent and says: "We'll be right back."
  • Batman the Brave And The Bold. Most apparent in the episodes with Bat-Mite. Its comparatively minor, maybe subtle even, until the series finale. The plot of which centers on Bat-Mite trying to force the show to Jump the Shark to get it canceled and make room for a Darker and Edgier Batman show. EVERYBODY breaks the fourth wall in that one. Aquaman's temporary new voice actor even breaks character.
  • Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy breaks the fourth wall often in the later episodes. One example is Rolf saying "Rolf finally feels safe to appear in this episode!" in "Look Before You Ed"
    • The episode "One Plus One Equals Ed" was largely devoted to breaking the fourth wall, with the Eds making observations about the things they could do that broke the laws of physics (Stealing Jimmy's outline, going from the foreground to behind the background and crushing stuff), taking notes, and eventually warping all of reality, until the balloon they were using to fly pops on the animator's pencil.
    • "Every Which Way But Ed" has them parodying the Flash Back technique in a way that has to be seen to be believed. For instance, they manage to get caught in a flashback that's in a flashback that's in a flashback that Eddy's having.
    • In "Key to My Ed", Cloudcuckoolander Johnny is found sleeping in the middle of the street. The second time the Eds encounter him, Eddy asks "Does this kid sleep through the whole show?"
    • In "Mama's Little Ed", Eddy apologizes to Edd for an earlier outburst of bad temper, blaming it on Ed and Kevin, and Edd points out "Kevin wasn't in this show, Eddy."
    • In "Ed Overboard", Eddy is being sworn in as a temporary member of the Urban Rangers, and remarks, "I'd swear, but standards won't let me."
    • Kevin gets one in as well in "For Your Eds Only". After the Eds tie him to a tree so he doesn't blab about Eddy stealing Sarah's diary, Eddy shouts "Hasta la vista, baby!" and Double D apologizes before following, ending with "C'est la vie!"

Kevin: This show needs subtitles.

    • In "Run, Ed, Run" the fourth wall is literally smashed to pieces when the Eds are thrown into the sky - and hit it. The "sky" then breaks and falls away to reveal television static.
    • Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy's relationship with the fourth wall seems to be something between a regular TV show and No Fourth Wall. The best way to think of it is a show where Peach Creek is a regular town and some TV director decided to make a documentary about their neighborhood. He tells them not to do anything they wouldn't do if the camera wasn't trained on them but from time to time, they will comment about their status in the show, which doesn't get edited out because it doesn't break the flow of the show (in other words they're still being themselves).
  • One Bugs Bunny short had Yosemite Sam hunting Bugs. We see a shadowy figure in front start to sneak out (remember the shorts used to be shown in theaters) and Sam points his gun at him and orders him to sit back down. Then says to the audience, "Anybody else try to get out to warn that rabbit gets his hide blown off!" Pause. "And I'll do it, too."
    • Along the same lines, another short has Bugs as a concert pianist. Who shoots an audience member for continually coughing. Audience interaction was a pretty common gag in those days.
  • One of the most famous No Fourth Wall lines in Looney Tunes history was introduced in the 1941 Bob Clampett Bugs Bunny short Wabbit Twouble. When Elmer Fudd, his face covered in soap, reaches for a towel, Bugs leads him around with the towel on the end of a branch. He tells the viewer, "I do this kind of stuff to him all through the picture."
    • Cecil Turtle says that in "Tortoise Beats Hare."
    • A variant of this line also turns up in Tex Avery's first Droopy short for MGM, Dumb-Hounded.
    • Another short has Bugs convincing Elmer Fudd (who had brought him home to make into stew) that he was infected with the highly deadly and infections disease Rabbititis. In the last scene, he points to the audience and goes nuts, telling Fudd that everyone out there had Rabbititis. After Fudd runs off, he assures the viewers that if the actually had Rabbititis, they'd see red and yellow spots before their eyes (spots appear on the screen), and then they'd start swirling around (the spots on the screen do so), and then, everything'd go BLACK! (the screen blacks out).
  • In one of the Bugs/Daffy cartoons with the Abominable Snowman, Daffy leads the snowman to Bugs and, sneaking off while the snowman is hugging bugs, he turns to the camera and says "sure, I know I'm a louse. But I'm a LIVE louse." - on a host segment of the Bugs Bunny television show, a dopey sheepdog says (Looking for bugs) "Where's the little bunny rabbit I saw on TV last week? I have to catch him. (Looking at us) Actually I'm a sheepdog by trade, but this is my day off."
  • A Porky Pig short called Porky in Wackyland was about Porky trying to catch the elusive dodo bird and gets sent into an insane reality world where said dodo bird would torment him in a Roadrunner-esque way, albeit more insane. One way he annoys Porky is by riding up from the horizon in the Warner Bros. logo (complete with the "boing" sound effect) slaps Porky, and zooms back into the horizon, with the WB "boing" sound effect playing in reverse.
  • An early Porky cartoon The Case of the Stuttering Pig had the villain warning the audience not to try and help the heroes - he especially singles out "that guy in the third row." At the end, the guy in the third row helps subdue the villain.
  • In another short featuring Porky Pig and Daffy Duck, they are trying to get to sleep to wake up early in the morning, so they are not fired for being late to work. Of course, this causes many things to plague them and prevent them from getting to sleep. One of them is the moonlight shining through the window and keeping Porky awake. The problem is resolved when Daffy shoots at the moon, causing it to fall and disappear over the horizon. In response to the unexpected outcome, Daffy looks at the audience, and expresses his disbelief ("Amazing, isn't it?").
  • And then there were the shorts whose films "broke" near the end, leaving the screen a white void. After a brief pause, one of the characters from the cartoon in question steps out into the void and addresses the audience, "Ladies and gentlemen, due to circumstances beyond our control, we are unable to continue with this picture."
  • Foghorn Leghorn did this often. Speaking to the foil du jour: "It was, I say, it was a joke, son!" Then turning to the camera: "Nice boy, but about as sharp as a sack o' wet mice."
  • Marvin the Martian does this in an episode of Duck Dodgers. He details his evil plot and laughs evilly when one of his henchmen comes up and asks who he's talking to. He stammers out a brief 'You know...them! The people watching us!' before the henchman goes "Oooooookaaaay,' and whispers to his fellow goon that Marvin is insane because he thinks there are people watching them.
  • Chuck Jones is infamous for this, but in his movie The White Seal, the fourth wall is broken constantly by characters looking straight into the camera. At certain points, it happens repeatedly with only seconds between them.
  • Staying with Jones, the entirety of his Daffy Duck short Duck Amuck is devoted to this very idea, with Daffy being tormented throughout by a mystery director. Daffy spends the entire short talking to the director who is constantly changing the scenery, props, and even Daffy himself with the use of a paintbrush. And in the end, the director turns out to be Bugs Bunny!
  • Animaniacs features this on several occasions. Example: Wakko, dressed as a doctor in a Russian-themed segment, remarks of his patient: "I think he'll need some Anastasia." Dot turns to the camera and says "Historical reference. Ask your parents." Lampshaded in the episode "Hello Nice Warners," where they're asked who they're talking to.

Slappy: I wrestled with Walto Wolf, Sid the Squid and Beanie the Brain-dead Bison. This Doug-guy here's nothin'!
Skippy: Yeah, but those were cartoons and this is real life!
Slappy: ...Don't tell him - he might crack.

    • Really just one of many examples of how Animaniacs took most of Looney Tunes' running gags and did them to wretched and hilarious excess... another example being anvil-dropping.
  • Ron occasionally gets to play with fourth wall breakage during the post-script season of Kim Possible, most notably in the first episode, where in the tag he tells Kim about a dream he had where she jumped sharks, and once in "Grande Size Me", where he delivers a PSA to the audience about the dangers of allowing your DNA to be mutated in chemical vats (while the other characters stand around confused as to who he's talking to).
    • Kim does it one time herself, interrupting the opening title to double-take at the scientists wanting to study Ron as the secret to her success.
  • Hanna-Barbera's The Adventures of Gulliver episode "Gulliver's Challenge". After Bunko says (of an opponent) "He's going to get it", Glum turns to the camera and says "I have a feeling we're going to get it too".
  • In the South Park episode "Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society", when Eric tries to kick Kyle off the group of main characters, Kyle remarks that he's "been there since the beginning".
    • There's also a gap in the fourth wall in "Cartoon Wars". The overall plot is a battle to show the prophet Mohammed uncensored in a cartoon. The closing narration for part I: "Will the cartoon be allowed to appear uncensored? Will Family Guy be destroyed??? Will television executives fight for free speech? Or will Comedy Central puss out?" They did.
    • South Park has an intermittent tendency to lean on the fourth wall. Example 1: In "Christmas Critters", Stan is arguing with the narrator of the story over the ridiculous plot (the narrator wins) (although considering Cartman was telling the story this could be considered a slight subversion), Example 2: Kyle deconstructs the entire episode structure in "Butt Out", trying to get everyone else to realize that they go through the same formula every week, and bemoaning the fact that he's always the one to deliver the Aesop... Look, it's Trey Parker and Matt Stone. There's gonna be leaning on the fourth wall.
  • Space Goofs Christmas episode. The aliens were about to blow Santa Claus sky high with firecrackers as he was climbing down the chimney when the characters give a PSA about fireworks safety.

Etno: Remember, kids, handling fireworks is dangerous.
Stereo: You could hurt yourself.
Bud and Gorgeous: Or someone you love.
Candy: So remember, have a safe …
Santa: ...and happy holiday!

  • In a first-season episode of The Spectacular Spider-Man, Dr. Octopus, enraged by one of Spider-Man's signature glib quips, asks Spider-Man if he ever shuts up. Spider-Man responds by saying that the fans require a certain amount of quippage. Since hardly anyone ever sees him fight or hears these quips besides his adversaries, it's clear he means the audience watching the show.
  • In the episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, "Missing Identity", SpongeBob retraces his steps, and Patrick has to say hi to him to make it complete, one of the times, we get this, even though SpongeBob is the only person around, and he was already leaving.

Patrick: Hi Spongeboob... uh Spongeboob?! I said-- haha, who's Spongeboob?! Haha I said Spongeboob! Ahahaha again, okay, sorry people.

    • Also in the episode 'Wet Painters', SpongeBob is going to start painting the wall. The next scene shows a time card, with the narrator mentioning "One Hour Later". Cut back to SpongeBob, who is still not starting to paint the wall. Another time card is shown, the narrator says "Two Hours Later", and yet again SpongeBob is still not starting to paint. Another time card, the narrator says "Three Hours Later", and then Patrick is shown to be the one handling the time cards and he tells SpongeBob to move along because he's all out of time cards.
    • In an episode that practically centered on fourth wall breakage, Patrick broke the fourth wall again in the episode 'Krusty Krab Training Video'. He acknowledges the Narrator several times throughout the episode, believing that the Narrator is the Krusty Krab's ceiling or a ghost. SpongeBob also addresses the Narrator a lot, asking if he can make a Krabby Patty multiple times.
    • Also happens in the episode "Drive Thru". When one of Pearl's friends shouts through the cheap, tin-cans-on-a-string "microphone" with a megaphone [causing huge ear pain for Squidward], he turns to the camera and says "I'm not faking it, you know. That really hurt."
  • The Trapped in TV Land episode of Teen Titans has this in spades, with Cyborg referencing the particular episode and season they're in, and Robin giving quizzical glances out the TV screen and then later running up and grabbing the camera, yelling at the audience "Do not watch this program! It will liquify your brain!" (The In-Universe explanation for this action is that Control Freak has tampered with the broadcast.)
    • Another time, the HIVE Five appeared over the theme song and spray-painted their logo on the screen. The leader, Jinx, steps forward and says "We're the HIVE Five and this is our show now." (If you look closely, you can see Gizmo in the background, using some device to hijack the broadcast.)
  • Tex Avery was the master of this. His characters would often do things like running off the edge of the film. One of his best involved a wiggling hair stuck on the film (which often happened in old projectors). After being there for a while, one of the characters stops the action and plucks the hair off the film and tosses it away before resuming the scene.
  • On Jimmy Two-Shoes, Jimmy does this after an Accidental Kiss between Beezy and Heloise to show it again in slow motion!
  • KaBlam!: God, Henry and June seem to find this as their favorite activity. What happened to kids playing video games and watching TV? Well, they're the hosts of the show, and they're pretty much on TV (at least 1996-2001, 2002-2006).
  • Done all the time on Duckman, with asides to the audience, and slams against the show's home, the USA Network.
  • A planned but unproduced finale episode of The Angry Beavers had Norbert explain to Daggett that they were really cartoon characters who were now facing cancellation. Although the episode was never animated, parts of the audio recording can be found floating around online.
  • Pete does this in Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers to comment on a Running Gag.
  • Superfriends (1973) episode "Dr. Pelagian's War". Dr. Pelagian has captured Wendy and Marvin and is planning his next move.

Wendy: Marvin, we've got to reach the Super Friends!
Marvin: Sure. Any idea how?
Wendy: Uh uh. [Looks at the camera and the audience] Do you?

  • Batman: The Animated Series The episode "If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich." Robin trips a thug on a table by yanking the tablecloth. He then says "I love that trick, but I can never get it to work" unmistakably to the camera.
    • Another episode had Gotham City being rampaged by a Godzilla sized cow. Robin reacts to the destruction by saying "Holy cow!" Batgirl turns to the audience and says "He had to say it."
    • This gag was used very early in the show's history, in 1992's "Christmas With the Joker." The Joker is airing a pirated TV broadcast from some unknown location, and the viewer often sees him via a TV screen. About two-thirds of the way through the show, he tells all the Gothamites who are watching that his Christmas special will return after "a word from our sponsor." Both the fictional program and the episode itself then cut to a commercial break in our own world. (Of course, the gag is ruined on DVD, where there are no commercial interruptions.)
  • Phineas and Ferb did this in their video game episode, where the characters could see their own life bars.
    • Lampshade Hanging near the beginning of Make Play: "What did I tell you about breaking the fourth wall, Carl?"
    • To be fair, Phineas and Ferb breaks the fourth wall nearly every other episode.
    • When the episode's song blames Bajeet for forgetting to bring marshmallows, he starts talking back to it, until Phineas says "Barjeet, would you stop arguing with the soundtrack?"
    • Characters do their own commentary on the episodes, where they acknowledge that music seems to come from no actual source (and sometimes start arguments with the disembodied singers) and where the characters host clip-shows for a "live animated audience".
    • When they're building a giant robot dog, Baljeet says, "Like when you made that title sequence."
  • The Narrator of The Powerpuff Girls commonly acknowledged himself as the narrator of the show, interacted with the characters in almost every closing narration, and was often in on the show's gags. One particular episode, "Simian Says," had Mojo Jojo kidnap the narrator and take his place, causing the girls to rob banks and commit crimes for him and nearly destroy each other through his narration.
  • Muppet Babies broke the fourth wall a couple of times in the episode "Good Clean Fun":

Animal: Go bye bye!

Piggy: No, Animal, the show's not over yet!

Animal: Sorry.

Piggy: It's OK.

  • "Little Bill, who are you talking to?"
  • Beetlejuice the cartoon does this quite a few times. Most often, it's BJ himself, but in "The Wizard of Ooze" the Wicked Witch of the West also broke it quite thoroughly.

Witch: Thanks to that commercial break, I had plenty of time to round up some friends of mine!
Witch: Curse that Lion's character design! Why couldn't he have been drawn with some eyes?!

  • A staple in The Weekenders when Tino tells the audience what's happening this weekend and its outcome in the beginning and the end of an episode.
  • Perfect Hair Forever has a moment when Cat Man is forcibly pulled by Coiffio into a boat. When it is forcibly rocked he turns to the camera and insists with increasing anxiety that they go to commercials.

"Let's go to a commercial. Let's go to a commercial! COMMERCIAL!"

  • In this episode of Darkstalkers, Anakaris breaks the fourth wall by turning to the camera and saying, "You know, I hate it when my bandages get wet because they break!"
  • Garfield and Friends indulged in this a number of times. One episode had Garfield waking up in the wrong cartoon, a Mazinger Z-esque action cartoon. A U.S. Acres short had Wade, freaking out over a cryptic message warning that "The bunny rabbits is coming", turn to the audience and shout "Why are you just sitting there, watching TV? Don't you know that the bunny rabbits is coming!"
  • The New Adventures of Superman. At the end of every episode Clark Kent would make some kind of lame pun based on the events in the episode and wink while looking at the audience.
  • Jake Long was once captured by Gantu in one episode of Lilo & Stitch: The Series. Jake commented there's no aliens in his show.
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
    • Occasionally done by Pinkie Pie, either with an Aside Glance towards the viewer or fighting the show's closing iris to get in one last motor-mouthed argument.
    • Done in the episode "A Dog And Pony Show". Rarity starts crying after one of the Diamond Dogs calls her a mule, and in the middle of her rant she grabs the "camera".
    • Spike also indulges in this occasionally, like in "Bridle Gossip" with his Aside Glance, or in "Lesson Zero" with his interrupting of Twilight Sparkle's Imagine Spots. He rolls one up like a window shade and pops another like a balloon.
    • Ahem, Discord. His godlike Reality Warping powers extend to the Fourth Wall, meaning he can not only ignore it and address the viewers as easily as he does the Mane Cast, he can manipulate it, potentially changing the whole genre of the show, changing the art style to anime animation, live action puppets, or applying the Roger Rabbit Effect with ease. He can fast-forward or rewind the story, rewrite captions (in comic book adaptations), and even once made a side trip to the original version of My Little Pony (from way back in 1984). Plus, much like the Genie in Disney's Aladdin, he tends to make jokes with pop culture references that, by all logic, should be unknown in Equestria, like Bob Ross and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas . But hey, such are the ways of Chaos.
  • There is a scene in one of the Veggie Tales movies that may not count but here's what it's like: The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything theme plays, followed by a record scratch. This may count as Painting the Fourth Wall.
  • Another example of the cartoon series Taz-Mania. As mentioned before, it sometimes does this; for example, in Here, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty breaks the fourth wall by pulling down a poster that reads, "I'll Be Back", which is set to take place in Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty Part II.
    • Speaking of which, the LONGEST FOURTH WALL BREAKING was Axel in "Sidekicked", when he does his speech about that he is a sidekick (cue to rapid falls of the boulder crushing Taz.)
  • In the Ireland episode of Yogi's Treasure Hunt, Yogi and pals are trapped in a room filling with water as it goes to a commercial. When the show resumes, they're on the roof of the building safe and sound.

Huckeleberry Hound: If it weren't for that there commercial interruption, you folks would've seen a real exciting escape!
Snooper: Yeah, take Huck's word for it - it was a doozy!

  • Young Justice version of the Joker is not the most well received version of the character, however he, like his comic iteration knows he is in an entertainment media. Episode 14, features not one, but two instances of fourth wall shattering. In the first he actually Lampshades his very appearance by letting the viewer know he is aware of just how surprised they are at his appearance, he then does a Screen Tap to make sure everyone is paying attention when the Injustice League gives their demands.
  • The end of the animated Punky Brewster episode "The Bermuda Tangle" has Punky winking to us.
  • Popples: "Hey kids, come here! I've got something to show you!" (cue a Hammerspace world.)
    • In Pop Goes The Radio, Putter asks the audience for Googles while winking at us.
    • PC does this in Backyard Adventure.
    • Tree House Capers: "Uh oh, Party! Now look what you've done! The kids won't be able to see the show!"
  • Most of the short segments in between stories on Maryoku Yummy have this (most of the ones at the end), with Maryoku asking the viewer "Which wish is..." or asking the viewer to copy her actions.
  • The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy : In one episode, Grim is shown having a phone conversation with a character who speaks entirely in beat-boxing. As he hangs up, Mandy asks how he could understand him, to which Grim replies that he read the subtitles.
  • In the opening scene of Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, Ruby seems to be doing this, given the viewers a powerpoint presentation on how she plans to attend her junior high school prom held on a boat (despite the taboo that forbids her family from entering the ocean) - however, it turns out her true "audience" here is her mother, who unfortunately rejects the reasoning.
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