What’s YOUR favorite fourth wall-breaking sitcom moment? Let us know below, and check out our video of the Top 10 Funniest Fourth Wall Breaking Characters - ruclips.net/video/P0gx3eb6Sb0/видео.html
I remember the one episode of psych where shawn told his friend gus tears without fears and he broke the 4th wall #TearsWithoutFears because that episode was about gus's nightmares ok
I immediately thought of the "Fresh Prince" scene where Carlton races through the entire set. It made me laugh uncontrollably the first time that I watched it, as it was so unexpected.
Carlton should be number one, and #2 is when family guy came back and they listed all the shows fox cancelled between family guy leaving and coming back
Wish it had an honorable mention and include this fourth wall break from Big Time Rush episode, "Big Time Video": Kendall: We'll just put everybody in the background as extras or something! James: Yeah that is acting, right? Background characters: YES!
Doctor Who, The Husbands of River Song. The Doctor looks right into the canera and says "I've always wanted to see that done properly" after pontificating dramatically about the Tardis being bigger in the inside.
Fleabag was almost ENTIRELY made up of fourth wall comments. And the show was hilarious!! And had the extremely Hot Priest! The last comment had nothing to do w fourth wall breaks but it meant something to me… 😂🤣
@13:50 so Groening is great at this! He did the same thing with Futurama, a cartoon about a delivery service in the year 3000, when they were cancelled and came back on the air, one character said "why were we shut down?" And the professor said it was because of the idiots over at the Box Network (get it? Because they deliver packages in boxes?) but when the scene cuts to the Box Network building the neon sign saying "Box" keeps glitching and saying "Fox". He's a pro and I love it!
@9:30 in the series finale, it gets flipped. abed finalizes accepts he IS NOT in a tv show. meanwhile jeff notices the monumental changes in everyone lives and how it will separate them. he realizes "if we are in a tv show, this is the finale."
This is a fun topic, but I'm sorry to break it to you, MsMojo - some of your picks aren't actually examples of breaking the fourth wall; they're examples of being meta. - Breaking the 4th wall means the character(s) & the audience become aware of each other (e.g., the examples in this video of 30 Rock, where Liz Lemon talks directly to the audience, and of Phineas & Ferb, where Dr. Doofenshmirtz and Perry look directly at the camera and the viewers). - Meta (also meta humor & meta jokes) is when characters are aware of story tropes/cliches/structure, etc., and comment on them, but they don't necessarily involve the audience. A character will reference an element of a medium that they & other characters should not know about (e.g., the Frasier example of having played "the same character for 20 years," which was a meta joke about how Kelsey Grammer has done just that playing Frasier Crane, and the Seinfeld example of George blaming Jerry for how George responds to negative feedback and saying Jerry "took all his good lines," which was a meta joke about Larry David's experience on the show).
I came to the comments for this reason, and I'm amazed it hasn't been commented more. Fourth wall breaks can be fantastic (it's not a TV show, but Eddie Murphy has a classic one in Trading Places), but meta moments should be a separate list.
That’s what I was thinking. I always thought it was more actually addressing the audience either by speaking or looking directly at them. The other examples they gave was more in the Meta range than anything
@@JennarationX oh it's definitely fun! - I don't get all bent out of shape over spelling errors on the internet (anymore, LOL) but this seemed like kind of a big miss, so I had to comment. But yes, absolutely still fun to watch!
@@BJNemeth love Eddie Murphy. My favorite fourth wall breaks of all time are from Moonlighting. I do love streaming but boy do I miss the days when network TV was just packed with great shows. ETA: So what do you think about the one many have commented on, of Carlton running through the studio - I can't decide if it's 4th wall breaking or meta. Maybe it's both?? (Whatever it is, it's hysterical.)
What about when Family guy came back and they acknowledged they got cancelled and listed all the shows that came and went before they were brought back. Better than a few of these.
Moonlighting was stellar at the 4th Wall Break. My favorite was when David and Maddie were arguing again each on opposite sides of a desk. David said I don't give a flying fig. Maddie: What's a flying fig? David: You don't know what a flying fig means? They both look at the camera at us and both say, "THEY know what we mean!"
Not a sitcom, but Star Trek The Next Generation episode "Ship in a Bottle" alludes to fourth wall breaking when Picard observes that the reality of Enterprise might just be a fabrication generated by "a little device sitting on someone's table."
BOY MEETS WORLD also had the Matthews daughter returning after a season not even being mentioned, saying she feels that she's been up in her room for such a long time. FRASIER was anticipated by CHEERS when a party went to a Godzilla marathon at the drive-in movies and wondered why an actress would leave a successful series quite a few instances in MOONLIGHTING
Bluey has a great fourth wall break in the episode Flatpack where the parents are trying to assemble a porch swing while the kids play with the box and interior from the box. After struggling to assemble the swing, Chili, the mom, asks Bandit, the dad, about if he had read the instructions. To which he responds ‘I’m not taking advice from a cartoon dog’ Bluey is a show about anthro dogs.
Moonlighting has the best fourth wall breaks I reckon, especially just before the show when Maddie and David would apologise for the last show, or fill in time because they didn't record enough.
In the late '80s, there was a show called "Just the Ten of Us," a "Growing Pains" spinoff. Well, one episode, the Mom and Dad are laughing hysterically a5 a TV show that has the same theme. When a couple of the kids walk in the Dad says, "You just missed your favorite show," while the Mom says, "I really like the Mom on that show." Not technically a fourth wall break, but quite meta.
The finale of Two and a Half Men was practically breaking the 4th wall the entire episode. They kept looking at the camera whenever they wanted to emphasize a trope.
It goes back aways, but my favorite 4th wall breakdown was the Burns & Allen Show. Periodically, George Burns would step off the set and deliver some jokes for a minute before rejoining the cast in the sitcom In later episodes, George had an den attached to the house. On occasion, he would tune in his own show to find out what Gracie and Blanche were planning.
I'm surprised that the "Parker Lewis Can't Win" episode of "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" didn't make this list. In the last scene of the episode, the camera pulls back and a silhouette of Ferris Bueller and his friend watch the action on stage. Funny. 😂😂😂
My favorite one from The Simpsons is at the end of “Who Shot Mr. Burns? Part 1”. Dr. Hibbert says “I know I can’t solve this mystery. Can yooooooou?” while pointing directly at the camera. Said camera then shifts around to show he’s actually pointing at Chief Wiggum.
30 Rock made fun of NBC's "green" week, referencing the green peacock on the screen. They had Jerry Seinfeld threaten to buy the entire network and replied, "Sure, like you've got $4 million just lying around." My favorite was "NBC, 'The Biggest Loser' network."
Best 4th wall break was Gilda Radner on the Gary Shandling Show because breaking the fourth wall was something Gary did all the time. When Gilda did it Gary was upset because that was his thing. The reason the audience loved it is that Gilda was fighting cancer and everyone was so happy to see her and to see her smiling and having fun.
The “Moonlighting” episode where the teamsters start tearing down the set in the middle of the fin chase scene was more creative and funnier than most on this list.
I’d add the theme song to the Gary Shandling Show, and probably a lot of other moments from there. I think that whole show was about shattering the fourth wall.
I'm presuming _Boston Legal_ didn't make it onto this list because it's a dramedy rather than a sitcom as such, but it could populate a list of fourth-wall breaks all of its own. "Denny Crane. I once captained my own starship."
The “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show” show was all about having no fourth wall at all. A key component of the show was including the viewing audience in every scene, and conversing with us.
I'm going to make a wild guess that you or the other posters here don't remember the first program that actually made breaking the fourth wall a feature of the show: The Burns and Allen Show. George and Gracie are playing themselves and everything takes place in their (stage) home. George would leave Gracie talking with friends or another character, go upstairs to his den , turn on the TV, turn to the audience and say "let's see what Gracie's up to". And there, on his TV, is Gracie talking to her friends....while George would make occasional comments to the audience about what was going on.
I've never watched a single episode of the simpsons but learning they take any opportunity to rag on their own host network makes me glad that it's still on the air.
Big Bang Theory also have a fourth wall breaks. This happened in one episode when Raj said "Who plays TV's Blossom" referencing Mayim Bialik the actress who acted in "Blossom" and at the time when this episode aired Mayim Bialik hasn't joined the cast yet. Also, in "Fresh Prince of Bel Air", Carlton running around the entire set made all us uncontrollably.
My favorite fourth wall break actually involved a different episode of The Simpsons. Marge noticed all the different reminders for other Fox programming at the bottom of the screen. She then proceeded to eliminate those reminders by different forms of attack.
In How I Met Your Mother, Marshall and a chef look smugly at the camera just as Ted is about to try bacon for the first time and questions whether he'll like it.
"Scrubs" after it moved from NBC to ABC. J.C. points at something in the hospital and says "hey, that's new", while the ABC logo is on the screen. Also, "Last Man Standing" when it moved from ABC to FOX, with the main characters talking about how a show they are watching on TV looks so much better on the new network.
No, there's a difference between 4th wall breaks..and META JOKES. "Married With Children", META joke. "Boy Meets World" META joke. (expect that bit with "I'm sorry Will...I was trying something new...") "Seinfield" META joke. "The Nanny" META joke. "Fresh Prince" had a GREAT 4th wall joke..when the show looked like it was canceled...leaving it on a cliffhanger...Will wanted to stay in Phily since he saw that things changed...and he wanted to do right by his mom... The opening of the next season had NBC coming to retrive Will.
In the era of 'very special episodes', where sitcoms would tackle a thorny issue for an entire show, there developed a new type of fourth wall break. At the end of the story, a director would yell cut and an actor would suddenly 'break character' and maneuver backstage while giving an "I'm the actor talking now" monologue that reiterates that they and the entire show are firmly on the correct side of whatever issue was being exploited. Dinosaurs did an anti-drug episode that finished this way, but the entire thing was still in dinosaur reality, with a Dino 'actor' talking while walking in a fake backstage populated by dinosaur crew. King of the Hill similarly had an episode where we see Hank on the toilet at one point that ends with Hank addressing the camera about his difficult and courageous decision to do nudity for this ep.
Kind of surprised none of Roseanne's fourth wall breaks are mentioned here. My favorite is when Sarah Chalke and Lecy Goransen switched back and forth between episodes, and an announcer tells the audience that the actress has been replaced.
Aw, man! I was hoping Eureka would have got a mention with its series finale! After SyFy pulled the plug on the show, but allowed them to wrap it up, they had the last episode center around mini black holes destroying the town, giving us this conversation: Jo: “Fargo, get up! Eureka is about to be destroyed by a network of wormholes.” Fargo: “Yeah, tell me about it! But, I convinced them to give us an extra day, so we can salvage this situation.”
“Mrs Brown’s Boys” constantly breaks the fourth wall. It also switches from set to set by walking from one to the other between the camera crew. The character of John Becker in “Becker” breaking the fourth wall to say the show was getting cancelled due to alleged poor ratings.
No mention of Sean's Show or It's Garry Shandling's show the ultimate in forth wall breaking from both sides of the pond they break it so much it gave in.
fresh prince is great, the swapping of Aunt viv is my favourite. Family guy had a fun open after it was cancelled and came back, it listed a bunch of recently cancelled shows and said "well i guess if all those shows get cancelled we might have a shot."
I Married Dora a short lived tv series about a man who marries a woman so she can remain in the US. The final episode the man was suppose to leave on a plane for a business meeting and they were all in the airport terminal and everybody says goodbye to him. They show him leaving then he came back. He was asked if the flight had been cancelled and he answered " No we have been cancelled". Then everybody looked at the camera and waved goodbye.
Okay, tons of great ones here. However, a couple on here do not top Family Guy's blatant fourth wall breaks. One of the best classic Family Guy moments was in "If I'm Dyin' I'm Lyin'" when the people make a gold Peter and he says, "I look like a freakin' Emmy!" Then he looks at the camera and says "Hint hint."
They did not include Ashton kutchers fourth wall break moment in his final episode of that 70s show when the gang is smoking in the circle and they all start talking about Kelso leaving for Chicago and then Kelso gets up and leaves, and the rest of the characters start talking about how they will miss him and then the camera points towards the same spot where micheal was sitting moments ago and we start getting sad before Kelso comes back in and looks into the camera and happily says, "Burn!!!! You were crying weren't you, I'm not leaving till tomorrow!!!!". The fact they did not include that scene has gotta be a crime.
That Fresh Prince of bel air one makes me want o re watch the show now that show was hilarious!!!! and LOVE 30 rock!!! and I remember that married at children episode it was hilarious!
I would add to this list Brooklyn 99 episode when they couldn't do the Halloween Heist because they network changed the day the show would air (S7Ep11, I think) and Crazy Ex-girlfriend when they needed to chance the actor that played Greg.
How about “I Married Dora” when Hugh Daniel Kelly’s character came back to the terminal to announce that the show was cancelled? That’s one way to end a series. Newhart’s series finale should be on here. The last scene was hilarious and clever.
Waiting for Top 10 Fourth Wall Breaks In Cartoons(Looney Tunes, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs(1993), Big City Greens, Freakazoid, Histeria, Huckleberry Hound, Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends, George Of The Jungle(1967 Jay Ward cartoon), Underdog, Bobby's World, etc.), Top 20 Extinct Universal Studios Orlando Rides and Shows(Universal Animal Actors, Beetlejuice's Graveyard Revue, Alfred Hitchcock:The Art Of Making Movies, Jaws:The Ride, Back To The Future: The Ride, E.T., Nickelodeon Studios, The Funtastic World Of Hanna Barbara, Shrek 4D, etc.), Top 20 More Extinct Cable Networks(Chiller, Shudder, TV Guide, Soapnet, Teletoon, etc.), Top 20 PBS Kids Shows people still miss(Wishbone, The Puzzle Place, Shining Time Station, Word World, Maya and Miguel, Postcards From Buster, Reading Rainbow, Lomax The Hound Of Music, Between The Lions, Fetch with Ruff Ruffman, etc.), etc. 📺📺📺📺📺📺
Not exactly a fourth-wall-break but the couch gag for _The Simpsons_ S22E03 "MoyetBart" that was created by Banksy, where they showed an Asian sweatshop making the animation for the show, was both shocking and poignant.
These lists are always extremely skewed to the last decade or two. The best 4th wall break was in season 7 and 8 of the old Burns and Allen series from the 50s. George regularly talked to the audience while watching the current episode in real time on his tv.
What’s YOUR favorite fourth wall-breaking sitcom moment? Let us know below, and check out our video of the Top 10 Funniest Fourth Wall Breaking Characters - ruclips.net/video/P0gx3eb6Sb0/видео.html
There is ALOT to choose
Carlton running through the studio
@@ecwdude17 So hilarious
I remember the one episode of psych where shawn told his friend gus tears without fears and he broke the 4th wall #TearsWithoutFears because that episode was about gus's nightmares ok
It's not a sitcom (it's a dramedy), but not many shows have done it better than Moonlighting, and for its entire run, no less.
I immediately thought of the "Fresh Prince" scene where Carlton races through the entire set. It made me laugh uncontrollably the first time that I watched it, as it was so unexpected.
It's a hilarious and timeless scene 😂😂😂. I was just watching that episode yesterday 🙂.
Prolly the top 4th break in a show that has live audience😂❤
It should have been number one.
Carlton is the gold standard and will never be matched
The fact it was completely made up on the spot makes it even better
Carlton should be number one, and #2 is when family guy came back and they listed all the shows fox cancelled between family guy leaving and coming back
Wish it had an honorable mention and include this fourth wall break from Big Time Rush episode, "Big Time Video":
Kendall: We'll just put everybody in the background as extras or something!
James: Yeah that is acting, right?
Background characters: YES!
Carlton running around the Fresh Prncr set will never not be hilarious 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
please stop using double negatives. just say it will always be hilarious....a lot easier
Immediately thought of Will saying “if we so rich.. how come we can’t afford no ceiling” and the camera pans up to the studio lights above 😂😂😂😂😂😂
'Fresh Prince' was the first show that popped into my head when I read the title. Those were classic moments.
I thought of Moonlighting. Boy they were blatant about it.
Unhappily Ever After (1995-1999) All The times the show stated that They're not Married With Children (1987-1997) which was hilarious
I love 4th Wall Breaks
same!!!
Outrageous you got 30 rock as the thumbnail i been binge watching for like a week lmao
Mr. Roper, breaking the fourth wall by laughing at his own jokes was classic
So funny. And 48 years ago.. Should be on the list.
Norman Fell was superb at this.
Doctor Who, The Husbands of River Song. The Doctor looks right into the canera and says "I've always wanted to see that done properly" after pontificating dramatically about the Tardis being bigger in the inside.
No contest. Alfonso Reibero was the best 4th wall break off all time. Hands down. Mic drop. Dust my hands off. Exit stage right.
"Fleabag" had great fourth wall breaks.
It's a way better show than half the shows mentioned here
@@t221000 I agree. I was shocked it wasn't on the list.
@@GK-ob1ni bad list
Fleabag was almost ENTIRELY made up of fourth wall comments. And the show was hilarious!! And had the extremely Hot Priest! The last comment had nothing to do w fourth wall breaks but it meant something to me… 😂🤣
@@prosen8966 Fleabag should be in this list over every other show
@13:50 so Groening is great at this! He did the same thing with Futurama, a cartoon about a delivery service in the year 3000, when they were cancelled and came back on the air, one character said "why were we shut down?" And the professor said it was because of the idiots over at the Box Network (get it? Because they deliver packages in boxes?) but when the scene cuts to the Box Network building the neon sign saying "Box" keeps glitching and saying "Fox". He's a pro and I love it!
@9:30 in the series finale, it gets flipped. abed finalizes accepts he IS NOT in a tv show. meanwhile jeff notices the monumental changes in everyone lives and how it will separate them. he realizes "if we are in a tv show, this is the finale."
This is a fun topic, but I'm sorry to break it to you, MsMojo - some of your picks aren't actually examples of breaking the fourth wall; they're examples of being meta.
- Breaking the 4th wall means the character(s) & the audience become aware of each other (e.g., the examples in this video of 30 Rock, where Liz Lemon talks directly to the audience, and of Phineas & Ferb, where Dr. Doofenshmirtz and Perry look directly at the camera and the viewers).
- Meta (also meta humor & meta jokes) is when characters are aware of story tropes/cliches/structure, etc., and comment on them, but they don't necessarily involve the audience. A character will reference an element of a medium that they & other characters should not know about (e.g., the Frasier example of having played "the same character for 20 years," which was a meta joke about how Kelsey Grammer has done just that playing Frasier Crane, and the Seinfeld example of George blaming Jerry for how George responds to negative feedback and saying Jerry "took all his good lines," which was a meta joke about Larry David's experience on the show).
Yes, I thought the same thing. Many of these are just meta, not 4th wall breaks. Still fun though.
I came to the comments for this reason, and I'm amazed it hasn't been commented more.
Fourth wall breaks can be fantastic (it's not a TV show, but Eddie Murphy has a classic one in Trading Places), but meta moments should be a separate list.
That’s what I was thinking. I always thought it was more actually addressing the audience either by speaking or looking directly at them. The other examples they gave was more in the Meta range than anything
@@JennarationX oh it's definitely fun! - I don't get all bent out of shape over spelling errors on the internet (anymore, LOL) but this seemed like kind of a big miss, so I had to comment. But yes, absolutely still fun to watch!
@@BJNemeth love Eddie Murphy. My favorite fourth wall breaks of all time are from Moonlighting. I do love streaming but boy do I miss the days when network TV was just packed with great shows. ETA: So what do you think about the one many have commented on, of Carlton running through the studio - I can't decide if it's 4th wall breaking or meta. Maybe it's both?? (Whatever it is, it's hysterical.)
What about when Family guy came back and they acknowledged they got cancelled and listed all the shows that came and went before they were brought back. Better than a few of these.
I preferred the “what are they going to do cut our budget” moment.
Moonlighting was stellar at the 4th Wall Break. My favorite was when David and Maddie were arguing again each on opposite sides of a desk. David said I don't give a flying fig. Maddie: What's a flying fig? David: You don't know what a flying fig means? They both look at the camera at us and both say, "THEY know what we mean!"
Moonlighting did fourth wall breaks to fantastic effect
Carlton sliding across the floor on his knees was the best part ever.
Not a sitcom, but Star Trek The Next Generation episode "Ship in a Bottle" alludes to fourth wall breaking when Picard observes that the reality of Enterprise might just be a fabrication generated by "a little device sitting on someone's table."
Right! And also in DS9 "Far Beyond The Stars" when Benny Russel envisions a space station with a black commander.
There's a blooper in that one where Worf mentions he never played with boys.
BOY MEETS WORLD also had the Matthews daughter returning after a season not even being mentioned, saying she feels that she's been up in her room for such a long time.
FRASIER was anticipated by CHEERS when a party went to a Godzilla marathon at the drive-in movies and wondered why an actress would leave a successful series
quite a few instances in MOONLIGHTING
The scene from Cheers was referencing Diane Chambers / Shelley Long leaving about halfway through.
Bluey has a great fourth wall break in the episode Flatpack where the parents are trying to assemble a porch swing while the kids play with the box and interior from the box.
After struggling to assemble the swing, Chili, the mom, asks Bandit, the dad, about if he had read the instructions. To which he responds ‘I’m not taking advice from a cartoon dog’
Bluey is a show about anthro dogs.
this is become my new favourite show is an adult with no children 😂
My favorite one from Bluey is when she has a dream about the animation process. She wakes up and says "That was a weird dream"
@@InsertCreativeusername_ oh yes I forgot about that one.
Great fourth wall breaks!
Moonlighting has the best fourth wall breaks I reckon, especially just before the show when Maddie and David would apologise for the last show, or fill in time because they didn't record enough.
Deadpool, Looney Tunes, Freakazoid, Tiny Toons and Animaniacs are expecrts on breaking the 4th Wall
In the late '80s, there was a show called "Just the Ten of Us," a "Growing Pains" spinoff.
Well, one episode, the Mom and Dad are laughing hysterically a5 a TV show that has the same theme.
When a couple of the kids walk in the Dad says, "You just missed your favorite show," while the Mom says, "I really like the Mom on that show."
Not technically a fourth wall break, but quite meta.
The finale of Two and a Half Men was practically breaking the 4th wall the entire episode. They kept looking at the camera whenever they wanted to emphasize a trope.
It goes back aways, but my favorite 4th wall breakdown was the Burns & Allen Show. Periodically, George Burns would step off the set and deliver some jokes for a minute before rejoining the cast in the sitcom In later episodes, George had an den attached to the house. On occasion, he would tune in his own show to find out what Gracie and Blanche were planning.
The plot of the Jack Benny Show on radio was often Jack is getting ready for his radio show.
You could easily do a Top 10 with just The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
😂😂
I love the one where they show the ceiling and that it’s just stage lights !
I'm surprised that the "Parker Lewis Can't Win" episode of "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" didn't make this list. In the last scene of the episode, the camera pulls back and a silhouette of Ferris Bueller and his friend watch the action on stage. Funny. 😂😂😂
You have to have Moonlighting as your #1. They were probably the first to break the fourth wall, and it was hilariously funny.
I second this!
My favorite one from The Simpsons is at the end of “Who Shot Mr. Burns? Part 1”. Dr. Hibbert says “I know I can’t solve this mystery. Can yooooooou?” while pointing directly at the camera. Said camera then shifts around to show he’s actually pointing at Chief Wiggum.
Love it!
30 Rock made fun of NBC's "green" week, referencing the green peacock on the screen. They had Jerry Seinfeld threaten to buy the entire network and replied, "Sure, like you've got $4 million just lying around." My favorite was "NBC, 'The Biggest Loser' network."
Best 4th wall break was Gilda Radner on the Gary Shandling Show because breaking the fourth wall was something Gary did all the time. When Gilda did it Gary was upset because that was his thing. The reason the audience loved it is that Gilda was fighting cancer and everyone was so happy to see her and to see her smiling and having fun.
A reference to something outside of the show doesn’t necessarily constitute a 4th wall break - that’s just a little writers’ joke.
The “Moonlighting” episode where the teamsters start tearing down the set in the middle of the fin chase scene was more creative and funnier than most on this list.
I’d add the theme song to the Gary Shandling Show, and probably a lot of other moments from there. I think that whole show was about shattering the fourth wall.
the best fourth wall break ever was the one in moonlighting where they walk right out of character and out of the building at the end of the season.
I'm presuming _Boston Legal_ didn't make it onto this list because it's a dramedy rather than a sitcom as such, but it could populate a list of fourth-wall breaks all of its own.
"Denny Crane. I once captained my own starship."
Do a list of times CHOWDER broke the fourth wall
So many good ones!
"thank for saving my network"
"wouldn't be the first time"
The “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show” show was all about having no fourth wall at all. A key component of the show was including the viewing audience in every scene, and conversing with us.
I'm going to make a wild guess that you or the other posters here don't remember the first program that actually made breaking the fourth wall a feature of the show: The Burns and Allen Show. George and Gracie are playing themselves and everything takes place in their (stage) home. George would leave Gracie talking with friends or another character, go upstairs to his den , turn on the TV, turn to the audience and say "let's see what Gracie's up to". And there, on his TV, is Gracie talking to her friends....while George would make occasional comments to the audience about what was going on.
I've never watched a single episode of the simpsons but learning they take any opportunity to rag on their own host network makes me glad that it's still on the air.
Carlton also ran through the set when Will gave him his little black book after they were snowed in at the cabin. 😂😂😂😂
😂Blonde twins on WEEDS
I remember Linda Hamilton and ‘Michelle’ were on there!🍭
Big Bang Theory also have a fourth wall breaks. This happened in one episode when Raj said "Who plays TV's Blossom" referencing Mayim Bialik the actress who acted in "Blossom" and at the time when this episode aired Mayim Bialik hasn't joined the cast yet. Also, in "Fresh Prince of Bel Air", Carlton running around the entire set made all us uncontrollably.
My favorite fourth wall break actually involved a different episode of The Simpsons. Marge noticed all the different reminders for other Fox programming at the bottom of the screen. She then proceeded to eliminate those reminders by different forms of attack.
There’s also Will saying “If we’re so rich, how come we can’t afford no ceiling” while the camera pans up to the lights on set on Fresh Prince.
They literally show that in this video at 10:15
In How I Met Your Mother, Marshall and a chef look smugly at the camera just as Ted is about to try bacon for the first time and questions whether he'll like it.
WHAT!!!!!! I THINKING I'M WAITING THE TWILIGHT ZONE.
Nobody, I mean nobody, broke the fourth wall better than Mr. Roper on Three's Company. Nobody. Ever.
"Scrubs" after it moved from NBC to ABC. J.C. points at something in the hospital and says "hey, that's new", while the ABC logo is on the screen. Also, "Last Man Standing" when it moved from ABC to FOX, with the main characters talking about how a show they are watching on TV looks so much better on the new network.
No, there's a difference between 4th wall breaks..and META JOKES. "Married With Children", META joke. "Boy Meets World" META joke. (expect that bit with "I'm sorry Will...I was trying something new...") "Seinfield" META joke. "The Nanny" META joke. "Fresh Prince" had a GREAT 4th wall joke..when the show looked like it was canceled...leaving it on a cliffhanger...Will wanted to stay in Phily since he saw that things changed...and he wanted to do right by his mom...
The opening of the next season had NBC coming to retrive Will.
You missed when Rosanne changed daughters. Or, when TBBT referenced "that girl from Blossom" might join their ensemble.
In the era of 'very special episodes', where sitcoms would tackle a thorny issue for an entire show, there developed a new type of fourth wall break. At the end of the story, a director would yell cut and an actor would suddenly 'break character' and maneuver backstage while giving an "I'm the actor talking now" monologue that reiterates that they and the entire show are firmly on the correct side of whatever issue was being exploited.
Dinosaurs did an anti-drug episode that finished this way, but the entire thing was still in dinosaur reality, with a Dino 'actor' talking while walking in a fake backstage populated by dinosaur crew.
King of the Hill similarly had an episode where we see Hank on the toilet at one point that ends with Hank addressing the camera about his difficult and courageous decision to do nudity for this ep.
Kind of surprised none of Roseanne's fourth wall breaks are mentioned here. My favorite is when Sarah Chalke and Lecy Goransen switched back and forth between episodes, and an announcer tells the audience that the actress has been replaced.
Aw, man! I was hoping Eureka would have got a mention with its series finale! After SyFy pulled the plug on the show, but allowed them to wrap it up, they had the last episode center around mini black holes destroying the town, giving us this conversation:
Jo: “Fargo, get up! Eureka is about to be destroyed by a network of wormholes.”
Fargo: “Yeah, tell me about it! But, I convinced them to give us an extra day, so we can salvage this situation.”
No “Moonlighting”? That show was the pinnacle of fourth wall breaking, meta comedy!
Carlton's 4th wall break should be number 1
Anything shown after it feels like a step down
The informant from Everybody Hates Chris where he talks about issues affecting the black community to the audience.
“Mrs Brown’s Boys” constantly breaks the fourth wall. It also switches from set to set by walking from one to the other between the camera crew.
The character of John Becker in “Becker” breaking the fourth wall to say the show was getting cancelled due to alleged poor ratings.
Yes, but Mrs Brown's Boys is absolutely garbage.
No mention of Sean's Show or It's Garry Shandling's show the ultimate in forth wall breaking from both sides of the pond they break it so much it gave in.
How about Crazy Ex-girlfriend? That series is meta on all levels!
❤Community ❤
"Tell your friends" first one I thought of when I saw the video title
fresh prince is great, the swapping of Aunt viv is my favourite. Family guy had a fun open after it was cancelled and came back, it listed a bunch of recently cancelled shows and said "well i guess if all those shows get cancelled we might have a shot."
1:28 2016-2020? Nut nuh
No one broke the fourth wall like 2 1/2 men in their series finale!
Archie Bunker would often look directly at the camera at the end of a scene with that grumpy frustraited look on his face.
This is real life. Have a happy tuesday afternoon, Sophia, take care and God bless you. Greetings from Colombia to you as well
I Married Dora a short lived tv series about a man who marries a woman so she can remain in the US. The final episode the man was suppose to leave on a plane for a business meeting and they were all in the airport terminal and everybody says goodbye to him. They show him leaving then he came back. He was asked if the flight had been cancelled and he answered " No we have been cancelled". Then everybody looked at the camera and waved goodbye.
Okay, tons of great ones here. However, a couple on here do not top Family Guy's blatant fourth wall breaks. One of the best classic Family Guy moments was in "If I'm Dyin' I'm Lyin'" when the people make a gold Peter and he says, "I look like a freakin' Emmy!" Then he looks at the camera and says "Hint hint."
They did not include Ashton kutchers fourth wall break moment in his final episode of that 70s show when the gang is smoking in the circle and they all start talking about Kelso leaving for Chicago and then Kelso gets up and leaves, and the rest of the characters start talking about how they will miss him and then the camera points towards the same spot where micheal was sitting moments ago and we start getting sad before Kelso comes back in and looks into the camera and happily says, "Burn!!!! You were crying weren't you, I'm not leaving till tomorrow!!!!". The fact they did not include that scene has gotta be a crime.
What about Parks and Rec? - virtually every episode
I’m thinking of an episode of Growins Pains with Ben wake up in his bedroom without its fourth wall…
12:27 Sonia The Hedgehog inside the tv
That Fresh Prince of bel air one makes me want o re watch the show now that show was hilarious!!!! and LOVE 30 rock!!! and I remember that married at children episode it was hilarious!
I hope people still ain't mad at Mary-Kate and Ashley olsen. They were practically babies with the show ended, let alone when you began.
I would add to this list Brooklyn 99 episode when they couldn't do the Halloween Heist because they network changed the day the show would air (S7Ep11, I think) and Crazy Ex-girlfriend when they needed to chance the actor that played Greg.
The only way you can get away with not having Fleabag be number one is by saying it’s not a sitcom. Otherwise that’s a huge miss!!!
How about “I Married Dora” when Hugh Daniel Kelly’s character came back to the terminal to announce that the show was cancelled? That’s one way to end a series. Newhart’s series finale should be on here. The last scene was hilarious and clever.
I do enjoy a good bit of meta humour and the Simpsons are indeed masters of it
You should have included How I Met Your Mother when Ted pointed out how Annie Hall started this whole breaking the 4th wall thing. Season 7 Episode 6
The Simpsons gets no. 1, but no reference to “Brother from Another Series”? A double fourth wall/crossover!
Hulu's Solar Opposites has a wonderful Hulu episode.
Dawn’s in trouble… must be Tuesday.
I'm surprised "It's Garry Shandling's Show" didn't make it the list
I am surprised the baby episode of Martin isn't on here.
What about Kat saying a lot of old veiwers and new as well in Call Me Kat?
Waiting for Top 10 Fourth Wall Breaks In Cartoons(Looney Tunes, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs(1993), Big City Greens, Freakazoid, Histeria, Huckleberry Hound, Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends, George Of The Jungle(1967 Jay Ward cartoon), Underdog, Bobby's World, etc.), Top 20 Extinct Universal Studios Orlando Rides and Shows(Universal Animal Actors, Beetlejuice's Graveyard Revue, Alfred Hitchcock:The Art Of Making Movies, Jaws:The Ride, Back To The Future: The Ride, E.T., Nickelodeon Studios, The Funtastic World Of Hanna Barbara, Shrek 4D, etc.), Top 20 More Extinct Cable Networks(Chiller, Shudder, TV Guide, Soapnet, Teletoon, etc.), Top 20 PBS Kids Shows people still miss(Wishbone, The Puzzle Place, Shining Time Station, Word World, Maya and Miguel, Postcards From Buster, Reading Rainbow, Lomax The Hound Of Music, Between The Lions, Fetch with Ruff Ruffman, etc.), etc. 📺📺📺📺📺📺
'Til Death and Futurama
Not exactly a fourth-wall-break but the couch gag for _The Simpsons_ S22E03 "MoyetBart" that was created by Banksy, where they showed an Asian sweatshop making the animation for the show, was both shocking and poignant.
What about when Martin said "This is TV"?
"Zack in Saved by the Bell" did 4th wall all the time. Maybe none fitting the situation like the ones here?
Somebody has no clue what breaking the fourth wall means. Get it together Mojo
Thank you.
Does anyone when some nut sh*t happens to em they look at a fake camera like that in a show or just me😂😂
These lists are always extremely skewed to the last decade or two. The best 4th wall break was in season 7 and 8 of the old Burns and Allen series from the 50s. George regularly talked to the audience while watching the current episode in real time on his tv.
Fuller House should have tried to get Elizabeth Olson to play Michelle.
They did. She wasn’t interested, either.