List of animated series that break the fourth wall

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The following is a list of examples from animated series where the fourth wall is broken for dramatic or comedic effect.

• The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius episode "The Evil Beneath" - After Jimmy and Carl say things about Dr. Sidney Moist, when the camera gets to Jimmy and there is a short pause, Jimmy aims his finger at Sheen, telling the cameraman to move. In the same episode, Jimmy is tapping Sheen to say his line. Also in "Lights, Camera, Danger!", when Jimmy is watching movies at light speed, you hear a line from his own film, causing him to give the viewer(s) a smirk. At the end of "Who Framed Jimmy Neutron", Banjo Playing Boy plays his banjo, despite the fact he doesn't know how, saying "that's the power of animation".
• Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog episode "Sno' Problem" - When Scratch and Grounder are flung off a ski lift, Grounder asks Scratch where he thinks they'll land; Scratch replies, "Probably sometime in the next episode!" Other episodes of the series have other situations that break the fourth wall.
• The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 - In the episode "Do the Koopa", when the main protagonists find a huge lava chasm impossible to jump over, Luigi shouts "Stop the music!" to explain the situation, which causes the background music to shut off. When Mario finds several '?' Blocks, he commands "Start the music!", bringing the music back on. Secondly, in the episode "Up, Up, and a Koopa", Toad complains about how Racoon-powered wings make him look silly. Princess Peach tells him "Don't be so self-conscious. It's not like you're on television with millions of people watching you.".
• All Dogs Go to Heaven - As the story ends, Charlie B. Barkin (Burt Reynolds) observes Carface (Vic Tayback) heading back to earth, pursued by Whippet Angel (Annabelle) (Melba Moore), he looks back at the screen (and thus the audience), stating that "He'll (Carface) be back".
• Aladdin - At the beginning of the movie, the Peddler is talking about the story of the film, he asks the camera to come closer, only for it to slam into his face, causing him to say "Too close!", before the camera backs away. Also, during the closing of the movie, right before the credits roll, Genie pulls up the screen like a curtain to shout "Made you look!" to the audience.
• Aladdin and the King of Thieves - After momentarily transforming himself into Pumbaa from The Lion King and says "Hakuna Matata", Genie labels it as an "out-of-movie" experience.
• American Dad! episode "Bullocks to Stan" - Early in the episode, Klaus the fish makes remarks concerning the scene at hand; when asked, he claims that he is doing DVD-style audio commentary about real life in an attempt to spice up his humdrum existence. However, later in the episode, in a scene where Klaus is completely absent, his voice begins speaking over a fight scene in an out-of-character manner. First, he points out that a background character is "played by the same actor" who 'played' a different character earlier, explaining that one of the extras ("Jimmy Ng") died during production. While he is talking, he realises that "we've just missed the funniest joke in the episode," and promises to shut up. At the end of the episode, there is a brief "behind-the-scenes" clip of the animated stars out-of-character as actors who play their characters, and the show is dedicated to the memory of "Jimmy Ng".
• Anastasia - In the final closing film scene Bartok looks directly at the audience, saying "So long, everybody!" and pulls down the scene like a window blind.
• Animaniacs - Numerous characters break the fourth wall, such as Yakko, the oldest of the Warners, and Slappy the Squirrel, a cranky retired cartoon star. Most often talking directly to the audience and making numerous references to the fact that they are in a cartoon.
• Arthur - Although Arthur and his friends introduce every episode, sometimes they argue over who gets to perform the introduction or how to do it.
• Astro Boy - In Episode 25: "The Strange Birthday Present", Mr. Pompous asks the audience "What's very special about today." The audience responded, "No, it's not the day that Newton was hit on the head by an apple!" Mr. Pompous tells them that it's Astro Boy's birthday.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender - In Episode 9; The Waterbending Scroll: A supporting character; Cabbage Merchant Chou upon discovering his overturned Cabbage stall, turns to the camera and states "This place is worse than Omashu"
• Beauty and the Beast - During the "Belle" number, a book, which is stated to be Belle's favorite, is vaguely described in a way which implies that it tells the story of "Beauty and the Beast."
• Big Heel Watha - The main character proclaims, "In a cartoon, you can do anything!"
• Bleach - In the previews at the end, usually no one actually talks about the next episode, and someone, usually Ichigo, says something like "We're out of time again!" or "You were supposed to be doing the preview!"
• Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo - Beauty sometimes yells at the narrator. Also, in one episode Don-Patch demands to have a bigger part in the cartoon. In almost every episode, the fourth wall is broken by one of the characters (even the narrator).
• Bonkers- In one particular episode, Ludwig Von Drake complains that "Someone in the sound department is snoozing on the job!" when expecting a sound effect to play, while it did not.
• Brandy and Mr. Whiskers - Usually the title characters break the fourth wall. When Lola announced that this isn't a TV show and it's real life, Brandy spoke to the viewers that she doesn't have the heart to tell the truth. In one episode, Mr. Whiskers changed the channel to a shopping network to save the audience from hearing Brandy's awful singing. Most of the time, Brandy and Whiskers talk to the viewers at the end of an episode. For example, in Lame Boy, Whiskers says, " If there's one thing I learned today, it's that there's more to life than spending hour after countless hour staring at a flickering video screen." Brandy then responds nervously, "But... that lesson doesn't apply to television, does it, Mr. Whiskers?" Whiskers gets Brandy's hint about them being in a cartoon, and responds, "Oh, no, Brandy! One can never watch enough television!" The two laugh nervously, but they stop after they see a hand with a remote in it turning off the TV we see Brandy and Whiskers on.
• Captain Flamingo episode "Gum Control" - The narrator says "It looks like Captain Flamingo is in a very..." then Flamingo interrupts, "Please don't say it! Please don't say it!" The narrator finishes his sentence by saying "...sticky situation." to which Flamingo exclaims, "He said it." Later in the episode, the gum on Kirsten's face freezes and shatters, and Kirsten explains to the audience, "When gum freezes, it isn't sticky anymore." In Ball of Doom, a little kid runs toward the screen and collides with it, then slides down the glass, leaving a trail of saliva. At the end of the same episode, a "Never-Stops-Bouncing Ball" flies toward the screen and "shatters" it and the narrator cries out in pain. During Water You Waiting For?, before the commercial break, Milo and Lizbeth are trapped inside a bubble. The narrator says, "And now, while we take a short break, everyone can go pee." Milo yells out "EXCEPT ME!" The I Scream, You Scram! episode also contains a humorous scene where the narrator says "There comes a time in every superhero's life where they have to make a choice; a choice between duty, or desire." Two "bars" containing Owen-Only on out-of-control rollerblades and a "K2" ice cream cone appear. Milo says, "I choose desire." and attempts to jump at the ice cream bar, but gets crushed by the "duty bar". Milo tries hard to push the duty bar away, but fails. Finally, in Ten-Pin Peril, Captain Flamingo won't listen to the narrator, who, in frustration, says "YOU! I'm talking to you!" Captain Flamingo looks at the screen with a confused face. Most recently, in Burr in the Hand, C.F., Lizbeth and Max are forced to strip to their undergarments, when the narrator suddenly exclaims, "You know, I'm in my underpants right now!" before quickly adding, "Sorry, you didn't need to know that."
• Cars - During a scene in the credits, Mack openly calls Pixar a "cheap production company" for reusing John Ratzenberger in all of their films after realizing that the Hamm car, the P.T. Flea car and the Abominable Snowplow (As well as their real counterparts in the movies that are parodied in said scene) are all voiced by him. Also, at the end of the scene after the credits finish rolling where Minnie and Van are driving through the desert, a VW beetle flies up to the screen and smacks it leaving a paint impression of its hood before flying off.
• Casper: A Spirited Beginning - After scaring a man in the toilet and him running out (with his trousers hanging down), Casper gives a confused and annoyed look at the audience.
• Catscratch - In the episode Tale of the Tail, in one scene when Gordon is with The Kraken, Kraken throws Gordon towards the TV screen, and Gordon slides off it.
• Chicken Run - The two rats who are discussing the chicken and egg question at the end, get on to talking about the movie's cast halfway through the credits.
• Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers - In the episode Rest Home Rangers. Prof. Nimnul threatens to age Chip 'n Dale with his FOGIE ray, and says "How would you like to be ninety years old, in chipmunk years?" He then turns to the camera and says "That's six hundred and thirty, to you and me."
• Class of 3000: On the Peanuts! Get Yer Peanuts! episode, Eddie has ten fingers for one scene. Philly Phil says "You got ten?", when he (As well as the rest of the cast) have only eight. This is the only time when Eddie has only ten fingers, because he, like most cartoon characters, has only eight, though he says this is due to his wealth.
• Cro episode "Things That Eat Mung in the Night" - Phil says that it is "déjà vu all over again. Just like in the pulley show," a reference to the episode "Pulley to You." Also in "A Bridge Too Far," Ogg hopes that they can fix the bridge in time before the show ends ("Hope so. Show about over."). Another episode is mostly 4th-wall breakage (with lines like, "I thought we were already in a flashback", and "How about nice rescue scene?").
• Dave the Barbarian - The characters frequently break the fourth wall. The characters will sometimes refer directly to the audience at the end of the show. Additionally, the characters are aware there is a narrator, carry a banter with him and even have a whole story where the narrator is kidnapped and made to change the storyline. Other moments include showing the characters waiting for their story to begin, saying they missed part of an episode, and holding a script on stage. One episode revolves around the main villain, Dark Lord Chuckles the Silly Piggy, forcing the narrator to read his script. The barbarians, the protagonists, must find a new narrator after they realize what has happened and after the current narrator falls sick. The settle on a science fiction-styled narrator. (Note that this show was created by Doug Langdale, who also created The Weekenders, which also uses similar techniques [see below].)
• Dexter's Laboratory - In Mind Over Chatter, at the end of the episode Dexter says directly to the viewer: "Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking." Also, in Deedee and the man, when Dexter's hosting for new annoying big sisters after firing Deedee, he puts a hot actress on audition. The actress think that it is Dexters Laboratory, the TV show, but Dexter comments that it isn't a TV show, whilst he and the actress looks at the audience.
• Dick Spanner, P.I. - Dick Spinner in voice over occasionally breaks the fourth wall by complaining about the unseen writers or scenery department. Other characters also occasionally break the fourth wall such as doing a double take when catching sight of the camera.
• Dr. Slump - This animation series -as well as its manga counterpart- is known for constantly breaking the fourth wall. The author, Akira Toriyama, appears in a lot of chapters, and characters usually complain for having small parts, make suggestions to the plot, or even ask him questions about unexplained events. In one occasion the author is killed and characters wonder who is going to draw the next episode. There is also a chapter where a misunderstanding is resolved thanks to one character seeing on TV the same episode the audience is watching, and realizing what really happened some minutes before. At one point of the series, the main characters start wondering why they have been in the same grade at school for over two years, so when the author realizes he has been unintentionally ignoring the time factor, he makes every character grow up two years older than before (corresponding to the dates in real life), and all the students change grades or suddenly graduate from high school (some of them complain to the author for the extra time they have been attending school). During the last episode, dozens of main, supporting, and recurring characters are invited to take part in the final scene, where they gather and say good-bye to the audience (some of them also try to perform farewell speeches looking at the camera).
• Drawn Together
  • In "Gay Bash", right after the housemates are given a sewing machine by the producers, Ling-Ling sews a television that shows a clip of Drawn Together where Spanky Ham gets money-eyes. He then does this in the show a few seconds later.
  • Toward the end of "Captain Hero's Marriage Pact", after being absent the entire episode, Princess Clara and Toot Braunstein suddenly appear, and Clara quips, "Have you noticed we haven't been getting any screen time this week?". Toot explains that this is because the two of them were "in the basement all week making this awesome potato gun!"; she then shows off said gun, and the two of them fire it off.
  • In "A Tale of Two Cows", having been absent from the scene until that point because she is involved in her own story, Toot suddenly appears on screen during the fight between Live Action Cow and Live Action Squirrel, and with an expression of disgust says, "Thank God I'm in the other story!"
  • In "The Lemon-AIDS Walk", Captain Hero elbows Wooldoor Sockbat out of his way and says, "Move over B-story, main plot coming through!", referring to their respective roles as the star of the A- and B-stories in that particular episode.
  • In "Freaks & Greeks", when Ling-Ling's subtitles are covered up by the Comedy Central logo, Xandir says he can't understand what Ling-Ling is saying because he can't read his subtitles. Elsewhere in the episode, characters look at the Comedy Central bug advertising The Daily Show and comment on it.
  • In "Mexican't Buy Me Love", Captain Hero lists ways in which each of his fellow housemates, despite his or her "coolness", is really a dork on the inside. For Spanky Ham, the reason he gives is that Spanky is voiced by Adam Carolla.
• Duck Dodgers In the episode" K-9 Quarry" - Dodgers says to the viewers, "Don't blame me - the martian gets one solo cartoon per season." In another episode, when Dodgers is eaten by Taz, the "view" zooms out to show a family watching the show on television. The child says, "This makes no sense; Daffy's bigger than Taz, but he's standing there in his stomach." The father replies, "It's just a cartoon, Son." Later in the episode, after Dodgers makes several attempts to show off, the view zooms out again, but this time to an empty couch, implying that the viewers got bored of the show.
• DuckTales
  • In the episode "The Duck Who Knew Too Much" - When Fenton Crackshell is climbing under a train, he turns toward the viewers and says, "Kids, don't try this at home!" Later in the episode, he unsuccessfully tries to call for help for his upcoming battle and comments "Looks like I'll have to go into battle armed only with my wits." He then looks into the camera and says "And no cracks about going into battle unarmed!"
  • In the episode Robot Robbers - Burger uses a giant robot to eat a hamburger-shaped hamburger stand, only to have Ma Beagle exclaim "Quit goofin' around, Burger! Whadda ya think this is, a cartoon show?"
• Duel Masters - Various episodes have praised the audience for tuning in, and in one episode a character tells another that he is allowed to be shocked and "can use [his] first season or second season voice".
• Dumbo - during the Pink Elephants scene, the Pink Elephants march along the side of the screen, with Dumbo following their movements.
• Earthworm Jim - It is done quite often in this show with different characters talking to the audience and the narrator in each episode. They also realise often when they are about to enter a flashback. In the episode "Bring Me the Head of Earthworm Jim", Jim asks the audience to give him super powers by believing he does (he didn't have a super-suit at this moment as it had been pinched) and clapping their hands (ala Peter Pan), and after 10 seconds asked "Are they clapping?", with his sidekick Peter Puppy replying "A few are; most of them are just changing the channel". In that same episode, Psycrow asks the audience if one of them is a taxidermist and someone (actually Peter in disguise) says yes. In another, Psycrow wrote a few lines on a piece of paper and forces the narrator to read it (and in doing so, make it actually happen). At the end of every episode, a cow lands on one of the characters, and the characters express knowledge of its appearance before it happens. Probably the most obvious is when Jim meets the "Great Worm Spirit", who turns out to be the show's creator, Doug TenNapel, which he proves by pulling up the ending credits and pointing out his name.
• Ed, Edd n Eddy -
  • In the episode "Know-It-All Ed", Edd stated that Eddy's "25 days in the pokey" line is from the wrong cartoon.
  • In "1+1=Ed", while attempting to "achieve wisdom," the Eds become aware of the inner workings of their cartoon world (perspective, etc.), and eventually their "reality" completely falls apart. Also they remove Jimmy's outline and is noticed and mentioned by Double-D and Eddy.
  • In "Knock Knock, Who's Ed," Double-D offers the Eds an easy way to solve the episode's conflict: go to either his or Eddy's house and watch it on TV. Eddy rejects the idea, saying "What? And ruin the plot?"
  • In "Key to My Ed", after repeatedly tripping over a napping Johnny 2x4, Eddy complains, "Does this kid sleep through the whole cartoon?"
  • In "Momma's Little Ed", Eddy blames an earlier burst of bad temper on Kevin, but Edd points out that Kevin wasn't in this episode.
  • In "The Good Ol' Ed", Ed says he remembers the "Canadian squirt gun" (from the season 2 episode "Know-It-All Ed") that Eddy finds "as though it were only second season."
  • In "Stuck In Ed", when Edd mentions that Eddy taught Jimmy everything he knew (from the episode "Ed in a Half-Shell"), Eddy asks "Didn't we win an Emmy for that episode?"
  • In "Brother, Can You Spare An Ed?", Eddy tries to get the money Sarah gave Ed for shopping by telling him it's too grubby, and says he doesn't want to "contaminate those badly-drawn fingers." Eddy breaks the fourth again after Edd panics after doing a bad deed, enjoying a jawbreaker when Ed was suppose to get fudge for Sarah and Jimmy, when Eddy asks, "Who writes this guys stuff?"
  • In "It Smells Like An Ed", Ed drops a block of cement on his feet, and right before they cut to the commercial break, Ed quips, "I should have all the feeling back in my feet after a word from our sponsors, Double-D," and Edd mutters, "Curse commercial broadcasting!".
  • In "For Your Ed Only", after the Eds abandon Kevin, he says "This show needs subtitles.
  • In "Whose Minding the Ed", Eddy complains, "Oh yeah, well how about the difficult time with you on my back through this entire show!" Eddy also remains Edd, after Ed accepts Rolf's deed, on the part when Edd has some smart guy to get him and Ed out of the situation they were placed in.
  • In "Truth or Ed", after Ed says something silly and Edd looked confused, Eddy says, "Ignore him, just stick to the script.
  • In "This won't hurt an Ed", When Kevin was about to beat up Eddy for causing choas while trying to expose his, everyones elses, fear of needles, Double-D stops Kevin and tells him not to used the cartoon actics of beating up Eddy. Double-D offers a way for Kevin get over his fear of needles by giving Eddy a more fitting punishment.
• The Emperor's New Groove - Kuzco stops the movie to remind the audience that he, and not Pacha, is the star of the film, and later, Kuzco in the movie has a fight with Kuzco as the narrator, who keeps telling the story from his point of view. These devices were also used as running gags on the Disney Channel spin-off The Emperor's New School.
• The Emperor's New School - See above. Also in the pilot, Kronk tells Yzma that she doesn't have to go through all this since he knows he was going to win. Yzma then asks, "Then what will I do for the rest of the show?" In another episode, Kuzco wonders why the background has no color. Kronk then explains that he arrested the background artists. There was another episode where Yzma appears to win and Kuzco asks the question "If there is no me, there's no show. And if there's no show, what are you watching right now?" Also, in another episode, When Kuzco and Melina used a magic potion that made them have tucan beaks for mouths, in the end, Kuzco replies, "We'll be back to normal after the break." which meant the commercial break. In another episode, during the end credits, the sundial alarm clock plays its own song to the tune of the Ride of the Valkyries:

"It's the end credits It's the end credits It's the end credits Look at them go They are so tiny I cannot read them I wish that they were big And really slow So many people So many names Why can't they just say 'Made by Kuzco'? It's almost over Only a few more noe The only thing to do now Is to show the logoooooos!"

• Excel Saga - The show's crew, especially the director, Nabeshin, and the original manga's creator, Rikdo Koshi, often appear. Excel (the main character) is killed in the first episode, and as this would leave little of a plot left, the Great Will of the Macrocosm does not allow it to be and revives Excel and resets the story as a result. In fact, the fourth wall seems to only exist when a joke works better that way - most of the characters show varying degrees of acceptance as to their fictional nature. Puni Puni Poemy, an Excel Saga spin-off, continues this idea even further, with the main character believing herself to be a voice actress, and that her father is the director, even referring to herself by her voice actress' name.
• The Fairly OddParents- In Where's Wanda? in the fishing pier scene before Timmy Turner finds out Cosmo kidnapped Wanda, when he runs home, he accidentally runs into the "camera", lets out a quick "AH!", and says to the viewer, "Sorry." and runs off. Timmy's Dad notes Timmy's "tough guy narration". In addition, most of that episode is actually in Black and White until the mystery is solved - until Jorgen points out that one corner of the room is still black and white. Also, in Emotion Commotion, two secret agents tell Timmy to "throw that hook off-screen". In Remy Rides Again, Cosmo "watches" Remy's, Juandissimo's and Jorgen's flashbacks. At the "THE END" card of Operation: F.U.N., Juandissimo Magnifico asks the audience "Do you think I'm sexy?"
• Family Guy
  • In "Death is a Bitch", Peter says that if he were to kill the kids from Dawson's Creek, he'd "have nothing to watch on Wednesdays." He then looks directly at the audience and nervously says, "... other than the fine programs on FOX."
  • In "Fifteen Minutes of Shame", Meg is fed up with the reality television show her family is taking part in, and says, "I want those cameras OFF!", to which Chris exclaims, "FOURTH WALL! YOU'RE BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL!!"
  • At the end of "Lethal Weapons" Peter complains about television networks. Lois tells him it's not a good idea to badmouth the network, to which Peter replies, "What are they gonna do, cut our budget?" He then leaves the room in a purposely poorly-animated walk.
  • In "8 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage Daughter," right before the first commercial break, Peter says to the viewers, "Stick around; more Family Guy coming up." Then at the end of the episode, he gives them a teaser for the next episode (although, in reality, the situation he describes has yet to actually occur).
  • In Blind Ambition, Peter tells Joe's wife Bonnie "you've been pregnant 6 years! Either you have it or you don't!"
  • In "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz," Stewie talks about Desperate Housewives, a series running on ABC at the same time Family Guy is on Fox. He then instructs viewers to "go ahead, switch over to ABC for five seconds. I'll be waiting right here for when you get back." He then stares at the screen for five seconds, and then says, "So what did you think?"
  • Right before the first commercial break in "Saving Private Brian", Stewie shoots the vaudeville duo Vern and Johnny, telling the viewers, "They're dead. We won't be seeing them anymore!" Later in the same episode, Stewie mentions that Peter attacked a hockey coach. He pauses for a second and then says, "No clip? Thought we had a clip." He then returns to his conversation with Brian.
  • In "Whistle While Your Wife Works", the standard program opening of the family performing a song and dance routine on an enormous staircase is disrupted when Peter falls down the stairs and falls onto a woman, puncturing her lung. The camera shows some of the animated sound stage where they film the show with extras and camera men walking around. At the end of the scene Stewie pops up in front of the camera and looking directly in it says "We should probably go ahead and turn that off".
  • In the musical number "Road to Rhode Island" from the episode of the same name, Stewie sings, "Until we're syndicated Fox will never let us die. (Please!)" Later, Brian sings, "We may pick up some college girls, and picnic on the grass," to which Stewie replies, "We'd tell you more, but then we'd have the censors on our ass."
  • In "Breaking out Is Hard to Do", part of the Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story DVD, there is a cut-away in which Peter mentions that they could make a Greg Louganis joke about the diver’s diagnosis with AIDS, the 1988 incident in which he hit his head on a diving board or the fact that his name rhymes with anus. They decide on a "no body hair joke."
• Fooly Cooly-In the final episode, FLCLimax, after a sequence reminiscent of a multi-panel manga page, Kamon orders it to stop, telling Naota, Haruko and Shikeguni that Episode 1 would be the only episode where they did "the manga sequence" as it was too expensive.
• The Flintstones - Animals being used as household objects speak to the viewers when complaining about their jobs. Sometimes the main characters also complain to the audience.
• Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends - At the end of "The Trouble with Scribbles", Bloo looks toward the camera and blows a raspberry on it, causing his saliva to fly onto the screen. There also is a friend named Jackie Khones, a reference to Khaki Jones, one of the producers of the show.
• Freakazoid- Freakazoid and other characters constantly break the fourth wall to sell merchandise, cut the soundtrack, even comment on an episode as in "Quantum Freak".
• Fruits Basket- In both the manga and the anime, after Haru tripped Kyo he turns around and says, "What I did was very dangerous anyone other than Kyo would have gotten hurt so don't try that at home", to which Kyo would respond, "Don't try it either! Who are you talking to anyway?"
• Fullmetal Alchemist- In the beginning of the 22nd episode, "Created Human", Colonel Mustang calls Lt. Colonel Hughes, claiming it has been a while since he has last appeared in an episode.
• Galaxy Angel- In one episode, when Vanilla H was trying to break out Milfille, as Vanilla was digging, Normad says "Just like an anime". Also when Milfie punishment has to be her face looking like the prince, Normad says " I'm sure most of the audience knew it wasn't a death penalty". In the same episode, Forte, Ranpha, and Mint were reading off a piece of paper, the prince shouted, "Don't read straight from the script!"
• Garfield and Friends - Characters frequently speak to the viewers, director, and animators of the show. Several episodes focus on Garfield (or Orson in the U.S. Acres segment) telling something to the viewers. There are some episodes where the characters would walk of from the scenery, with it turning out to be a filming set. Frequently, while characters talked to eachother or themselves, they would mention that their world is a television show, (i.e. "this isn't an educational program," "don't talk or we'll have to pay you for this episode, "I'm the main star of this episode.")
• The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy
  • At the start of nearly every episode Mandy stands in front of the blank screen and says something to the audience and sometimes tries to injure them.
  • In "He's Not Dead, He's My Mascot", Mandy gets fed up that this is another pet episode and literally leaves the cartoon.
  • In another episode, Billy attempts to ask Grim for advice, to which Grim replies, "I'm not in this scene." Later in that episode it is revealed that Mandy is watching Billy on TV.
  • In "Duck!", Hector Con Carne, who had gotten his own show prior to this episode's airing, is jailed for public disturbance and complains, "I'm not even on this stupid show anymore!"
  • At the end of "Guess What's Coming to Dinner?", where Eris and Hoss Delgado are kissing, Grim exclaims that "this is a kids' show!"
  • At the end of "Modern Primitives", Mandy remarks, "What a waste of an episode."
  • In "Pandora's Lunchbox", Billy asks Grim who writes "this stuff" and it cuts to a baby in front of a typewriter.
  • In "The Secret Snake Club", Billy is seen bursting into a room, supposedly where the main plot is happening, only to find Irwin, whom Billy arrests. Irwin exclaims that this is not what the episode was supposed to be about ("This episode was supposed to be about snake nerds! SNAKE NERDS!!").
  • In "Prank Call of Cthulhu", Mandy tells Grim that they have to save Billy, because "The Grim Adventures of Mandy doesn't sound as catchy as Billy and Mandy."
  • In "The Bubble with Billy", Irwin attempts to pitch to Grim and Mandy his idea of changing the show's title to The Grim Adventures of Irwin and Mandy.
  • In "The Secret Snake Club vs. P.E", after Sperg steals Grim's scythe, he responds, "I stopped carrying about five episodes ago!"
  • In "The Crass Unicorn", Mary Francis said that the time that darkness overcame the land was the same time this show premiered.
  • In "Billy and Mandy Begins", after watching Grim and Billy's false tales of how they met, Mandy shows clips of the first episode to show how they met, however Grim denies that's the truth, saying "that didn't look anything like us", referencing the old character designs.
  • In "Dream Mutt", Every time when Wiggy Jiggy Jed makes a joke or pun, he looks at the viewers and a laugh-track starts.
• Hare+Guu - In the first episode, as the character of Guu is sleeping with her eyes open, Hare turns to the camera and mentions it, then saying "Why am I saying every little thing that happens?"
• Hercules - Although the main characters never break the fourth wall personally, the Muses often talk to Bob the Narrator at the beginning and end of the episode. And in one episode, we see a bunch of hats walking by in mid-air and hear Bobs voice talking to his wife about the kids (making fun of the fact that we never see the narrator).
• Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi - In the episode "Rock 'n' Roe" Ami and Yumi told the audience never to eat cheap sushi. Also, in "Soap Box Derby" the group runs into a pair of bullies from Ami's youth and she asks, "What are the odds of this happening?", to which Kaz replies, "On our show, pretty good."
• Hikaru no Go - Before the first episode, Shindou Hikaru appears on screen to tell viewers that the series will begin shortly. Some episodes toward the end begin with Fujiwara no Sai addressing the audience.
• Homestar Runner - Viewers are able to send email to Strong Bad and he will respond. Characters are aware that they are in a website (shown by actions such as Homestar and Strong Bad walking into a "This Page Cannot Be Displayed" notice) but do not appear to know that they are fictional. This is especially prominent in the "virus" email, as the various characters become glitched (Strong Bad runs out of the screen "into the black") until the computer with the virus is destroyed with Bubs' shotgun, restoring normality.
• Horrid Henry - Henry & Peter occasionally complains to the audience about how unfairly he is treated or what he intends to do in this particular story or what the outcome was. The way he talks in these periods is like someone doing a video diary. In the episode Hike Peter looks directly at the camera as if to share with the viewer the sense of being confused at his brother's bizarre turnaround in behavior. The family cat often 'skips' the night sequence by pressing on the remote, essentially fast-forwarding the night time...straight to the morning. In one Good Day Henry snatches the halo appearing over his head and stuffs it into his pocket. Bad Day showed Peter breaking the forth wall throughout the episode.
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) - After the final credits, Hugo the Gargoyle waves at the audience and shouts "Goodnight, everybody!"
• Idaten Jump - In "Detour", when Sho challenges Terry the Megaton to an Idaten battle for his Flame Kaiser and Hosuke, Hosuke says, "That should advance the plot!" At the end of "Trap", Hosuke says, "I'll see you next episode!" when he flies away.
• Jacob Two-Two - At the end of one episode Jacob Two-Two and the Dangerous Debut, Buford takes a photo of Jake and his family. He then says, "Oops. I'd better get one of the audience," turns towards the screen and takes a picture of the viewer(s) with the flash thus ending the show. In Jacob Two-Two and the After School Abattoir, a Gothic piece of music is heard whenever someone mentions the title After School Abattoir causing the characters to pause and look around with their eyes to see where that piece of music is coming from. In some of the early episodes during the Nelvana series, Jake and one of his friends (usually Buford) explain to the audience how to do simple tricks, such as in one episode where Jake demonstrated how to walk through a piece of newspaper.
• Jem - In the third season episode "The Day the Music Died", Kimber Benton, the main character's sister, actually interrupts the opening credits before they have completed, and proclaims "There isn't going to be a story today." Throughout the course of the episode, various characters from within the series break the fourth wall to fill the viewers in on what has transpired in the three months within which events led to the current situation. Ironically, the only major character in this episode who isn't aware of those looking in from beyond the fourth wall is Jem herself.
• Johnny Bravo - Johnny is aware of being in a cartoon and constantly talks to the viewers, making comments about the show. Also, in at least one episode, he fast-forwarded and rewound the show.
• Johnny Test - In the episode "Johnny Hollywood", before the driver in the "Quickest and Monkiest" movie are about to drive Johnny and Dukey off a cliff, Dukey says, "You just had to break into your dad's DVD case, didn't you? You couldn't just watch a cartoon like normal kids!" After he says that, Johnny and Dukey look directly at the camera and they both raise one eyebrow. In the episode "Johnny and the Amazing Turbo Action Backpack", the Amazing Turbo Action Backpack spells out "The End" as it says, "Ending cartoon!"
• Kasimasi - Episode eight features Asuta speaking to the audience.
• Kim Possible - In "The Ron Factor", Kim interrupts the theme song. In the "The Big Job", having suddenly remembered what Monique had told him to do (which he'd earlier ignored) Ron (together with Rufus) look in the direction of where the echoing reminder is coming from before staring sheepishly at the camera. Over the end credits of "Grande Size Me" Ron does a PSA on obesity, with a crowd of high schooler onlookers staring at the camera, enquiring on who Ron is talking too
• King Arthur's Disasters - Although this doesn't break the wall often, every time the narrator says "His Trusty Steed", Arthur always adds "Called Alan" and the narrator adds it. Characters often interact with the narrator, in one episode Arthur doesn't reconize the narrator's voice and demands to know what happened to his narrator. In other episode, Merlin says "I'll use the growth formula Sire, the one I was making at the start of the episode.
• Kronk's New Groove - Early in the movie, Kuzco stops the movie and talks about his small role, then reminds the audience that Kronk now has his own movie, and even says, "I'm nice now. Didn't you see the first movie?" and "This is his movie, not my movie." Later, he stops the film to point out that Yzma is trying to sell slime to the old people, then bangs on the screen while assuring the viewers that it's a scam.
• Lilo & Stitch: The Series - In the episode Morpholomew, Jake Long is captured by Gantu and later says to him "The Am Drag show is about saving magical creatures, it's not sci fi".
• The Lion King - Pumbaa sings "And I got down-hearted, every time that I..." and (before he can say "... farted") Timon interrupts him and, looking toward the viewer, says "Pumbaa, not in front of the kids." Simba also looks toward the viewer. Similarly, in The Lion King 1 1/2 Rafiki looks toward the viewer and says, "My work here is done." In the same movie, when Timon tries to look "Beyond what you see" he replies to the loud music by saying "It's kinda hard to think with all this music."
• Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies - Characters (often a rotoscoped, silhouetted "audience member" who stood up in front of the "on-screen" character) frequently talked to the audience or read the credits. This device was used in Chuck Jones' landmark cartoon Duck Amuck in which a "mysterious artist" tries to ruin Daffy Duck's cartoon. Daffy angrily comments (referring to studio head Jack Warner), "J.L. will hear about this!" In another older cartoon, a villain said that "no one could stop him, not even that guy in the third row!" Later, at the end, that same guy in the third row hits her with something. In 1943's "Wackiki Rabbit", the thin castaway points to some subtitles in fake Polynesian at the bottom of the frame and remarks, "Gee, did I say that?".
• MÄR - At the end of Episode 20, "Back to the Training Gate! Learn How To Really Fight!", Snow tells Ginta she will be doing the preview this time.
• Maya & Miguel - At the beginning or end of each show Maya or Miguel will often look up from the computer he/she is working at and speak directly to the viewer(s) as he/she explains about the events of this particular story or its outcome.
• The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Haruhi and Kyon openly speak to the viewer during the next episode previews. Also, in episode 14 (episode 6 chronologically), when Kyon's sister goes to get the scissors, she is humming the ending theme song.
• Mickey Mouse Works and House of Mouse - Goofy talks to the narrator during his "How to..." shorts. Also in the episode "computer.don", a box drops out of the sky and Mickey Mouse comes out of the box, remarking, "Hey, you got it all wrong. I'm not supposed to be in this cartoon." Other characters do the same thing in other shorts.
• Muteki Kanban Musume - When Miki gets punched in the stomach in Episode 1 and vomits, Akihiko comments in disbelief at how she's throwing up and it's only the first episode. He makes a similar comment in the last episode when Miki gets hit in the stomach and throws up again. In Episode 2, Akihiko comments on how Kankuro didn't get a lot of screen time that episode.
• Mr. Bug Goes to Town - At one point the snail; Mr. Jeepers Creepers concludes his rhyming speech, while looking straight at the camera and addressing the audience.
• My Gym Partner's a Monkey - In the episode "Pants in Space" Windsor is talking to Adam and says, "Throughout this whole series..." speaking about what kind of characteristics Adam has built with the audience throughout the show's airing. In the episode "The Spiffanos" Adam makes two references to other episodes by calling them "the science fair episode" and "the spelling bee episode".
• My-Otome - In the penultimate episode, Mai makes an irritated comment about her not having much screen time in the series.
• Nadesico - In the "First Star" episode, Minato explains to the audience that "kancho" means both "spy" and "captain" in Japanese. As she does, Megumi tells the audience "Who says this show isn't educational?" When Erina asks who she is talking to, Megumi replies "The fourth wall!"
• Naruto - Shikamaru Nara says Naruto is clueless and could never become the main character of a show. Additionally, the 26th episode begins with Naruto announcing the new broadcast time of 7:27 PM. Unfortunately, he did this at 7:00 PM, thus making his teammates (specifically Sakura) rather upset with him, as they weren't prepared. The episode continues with expositional material intended for those unfamiliar with the show, interspersed with Kakashi's retrieving of the episode tape.
• New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh episode "FrankenPooh" - After going through a huge growth spurt, Pooh gets stuck in a filmstrip and says "I seem to have reached the top of the picture."
• Ozzy and Drix episode "Ozzy, Jr." - When Amino asks Drix how a cold pill could have a built-in mixer, Drix turns to the viewer and says, "You know, I've often wondered that myself." In "The Conqueror Worm", when the danger music plays, Ozzy says, "Shhh!" Drix says, "What is it?" to which Ozzy replies, "Theme music!"
• One Piece In episode 62, when the Straw-hats are trapped inside Laboon, they meet Crocus. Sometimes, Crocus would widen his eyes, the location would change eight times before returning to his eye. After the third time, the Straw-Hats tell him to stop it. But Crocus only proceeds by asking if an old man couldn't have a running gag going on.
• Over The Hedge - In a scene before the ending credits, we see Hammy with a log full of acorns, and says, "I found my nuts!" and then runs into the camera, and his face collides with the screen.
• Ouran High School Host Club- In one episode, Tamaki says "Me and Haruhi are the stars of this romantic-comedy anime and you are the homo-characters". Also in another episode, Haruhi faces the screen and said, "For all AB blood types in the audience, don't get angry watching this". In another episode, when Mori stabs the wall with the sword, Tamaki apologizes that Mori didn't have an episode about him.
• Ojamajo Doremi Na-i-sho - In episode 10, when Aiko accidentally says that she may have feelings for someone, the rest of the girls want to figure out who he is, Aiko runs outside and says "Na-i-sho" (which means "secret" in Japanese) to the TV audience. In another episode, Onpu winks at the camara as she says "And now for something completely different."
• Pani Poni Dash! - The show breaks the fourth wall many times, such as the classroom where the students are is, in reality, a set; the "crew" of the show randomly appears, and sometimes, the characters themselves break the fourth wall.
• Pom Poko - At the end one of the film, Ponkichi notices the camera and addresses the viewer, asking humans to be more considerate of Tanuki and other animals less endowed with transformation skills, and not to destroy their living space.
• Pokémon -
• Usually, only Team Rocket seems to be aware of being in a cartoon. On a some occasions, they address the audience directly, mostly while discussing their evil plots. For a list of such references, see Team Rocket (anime)#Team Rocket and the Fourth Wall.
• In "Rough, Tough, Jigglypuff!" a Jigglypuff uses Sing, which even causes the narrator to fall asleep.
• In "The School of Hard Knocks", after Misty and Ash argue for about two minutes, Brock interrupts saying, "Come on guys, we need to get going, the show's already started!"
• In Get the Show on the Road!, May introduces herself to the audience, before being startled by a Duskull and crashing into a tree.
• In "Flower Power", Ash says, "Think I could do a show with all my Pokémon?" to which Misty replies, "A live stage show?" Ash says, "No, a television show!" Misty then says, "Who'd watch anything like that?"
• Popples - The Popples were clearly aware that they were in a cartoon. In some episodes, they would speak out to the audience, often to make a comment, or even ask for a helping hand, in which an animated hand would appear on-screen and help the Popples with their problem. In one episode, Putter accidentally destroyed part of the background, which he quickly repainted, followed by him painting "HI" on the screen.
• The Powerpuff Girls - The characters can frequently hear and respond to the narrator. In one episode, Mojo Jojo kidnaps him and narrates the episode instead, controlling the actions of the Powerpuff Girls. He also kidnaps the narrator in a comic book story and forces him to tamper with reality. Also, in the episode "Custody Battle", Mojo remarks that zero is "the amount of respect I get after six seasons on this show!"
• A Pup Named Scooby-Doo - Most of the episodes begin with Shaggy telling the viewers what was going on at the beginning. In about half of the episodes, the viewers were supposed to keep track of all clues found, so they could figure out the villain of the show when the characters asked them who it was. And in another episode, just before Fred calls suspects, an announcer comes up and advises the viewers to just get a book while he's doing that. The characters do the same thing; read.
• The Real Ghostbusters - An episode featuring a newscast at the end refers to telling all more about the Ghostbusters after a commercial upon which the show itself cuts to one.
• ReBoot - In one episode, Dot and Enzo Matrix enter a game modeled after the Evil Dead series. When Dot looks at her revealing dress, she exclaims "Who plays games like this?!" and then she and Enzo glare toward the viewer. Occurring quite often during the first two seasons, the fourth wall is broken in many ways. Characters look towards the camera and shrug during awkward moments. Even the dog may turn with an exasperated look. The protagonist, Bob, speaks directly to the audience when he feels the need to mildly gloat (e.g., "well that was easy enough," and, "hidden file commands, ya gotta love 'em") and to casually provoke empathy for his circumstances (e.g., ""Don't you just hate it when that happens?"). The character "Mike the TV" has the most interaction with the audience, however. He usually gives a highly exaggerated and melodramatic narration of events, parodying television announcers and infomercials. Since the character is given exclusive attention during these moments and resembles a TV, the jarring effect of breaking the fourth wall is somewhat mitigated by the reality that the television is talking to the viewer.
• Rocky and Bullwinkle - Characters often "overhear" and interact with the narrator, and they occasionally refer to the imminent end of an episode, the network that was running the cartoon, etc.
• Roger Rabbit cartoons - Roger almost always gets blown out of his short by some sort of explosion or collision course, and then has to deal with the studio crew.
• Rocko's Modern Life- In the episode "Hypo-Puppy Love", at the end of the episode, Heffer got the X-Ray glasses he ordered, and claims he can see past Rocko and the other's clothes. The others run off, and shortly after, Hef looks directly toward the viewer(s), claim that he can also see past their clothes.
• Sailor Moon - In one episode, Sailor Moon is crawling underneath the seats in an auditorium looking for Luna. Looking towards the camera, she asks the audience to let her know if they see Luna. This comment only occurs in the English dubbed version.
• Sealab 2021 - Sealab often references its own fictional nature; one episode ends in the revelation that the episode was just a pitch to Cartoon Network executives, who say that they don't like it. Others feature behind the scenes sequences in which the animated characters are revealed to be very different from the roles that the 'play'.
• The Simpsons-
  • In the episode Burns, Baby Burns, Any Way You Want It starts playing. Marge wants to know where it's coming from. However, Homer tells her that "It's a party! It doesn't have to make sense!" As if to prove his point, a flower neclace drapes itself over his shoulders and a Pina Colotta floats into his hand. He then cheers.
  • In the episode, "Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner?", Lisa tells Homer that she won't be writing his restaurant reviews any more, to which Homer replies "Nobody talks to me that way. I'm Homer Simpson, the most powerful food critic in town, who will never get his comeuppance! You hear me? No comeuppance!" before turning to the camera and saying "We'll be right back!"
  • In the episode "Treehouse of Horror XVII", at the beginning the cameraman falls down the stairs and lands on the floor, then picks up the camera and opens the door.
  • In the episode "Treehouse of Horror VI", in The Attack of the 50-Foot Evesores, after Brockman's report at the Simpsons' house, Homer says "We'll be right back!"
  • In the episode, "There's Something About Marrying", Homer holds up a map with various places stated on it explaining that no one ever uses them, the camera then zooms in on the map and a very long pause is issued after which Homer replies, "Have you read them all yet? Yes? Good," giving the effect that he is talking to the audience.
  • In the episode "Pygmoelian', Carl gives harsh opinions of everyone at Moe's tavern causing them all to cry. He then turns to the camera and says "See? This is why I don't talk much".
• Sonic X
  • While Sonic is standing on an S-Team racecar in the first episode, the driver yells that they don't want little kids copying Sonic. The hedgehog then says to the audience, "Kids, NEVER stand on top of moving cars!" (In the 4Kids Entertainment version of the same episode, the joke is the same except that Sonic says, "Kids, don't use Formula 1 racecars to chase hedgehogs!"
  • In the episode "Fierce Battle! Sonic Baseball Team" Sonic catches a ball that went out of the field. Chuck comments that he's breaking the rules, and Sonic mutters, "Sheesh, why do we need to follow rules anyway? This is an anime!"
  • In "Chaotix Detective Agency" there is an aerial view of the Thorndyke mansion with an arrow pointing it out. Vector the Crocodile comments, "Why is there a floating arrow above the house? Is it because we're near the end of the episode?" Also, earlier in the episode, Vector and Espio the Chameleon introduce themselves, and after Espio's intro, It'sCharmy Bee's turn, but a commercial break starts and so the "eyecatch" displays Charmy's information. In the English version, Vector says "Sorry Charmy, but we're all out of time!" as the bee starts getting frustrated and presses against the screen. Also, while the Chaotix are trying to investigate Sonic, Espio sneaks into an electronics store (a la Best Buy) and steals a DVD and a DVD Player. When he plays the DVD, the Sonic X theme starts playing, and the Chaotix decide to skip that part and go straight to the episode, where they start watching actual episodes of the show (e.g. Super Sonic and Super Shadow fighting off the Biolizard).
  • Later on, in "Eggman Corporation", Dr. Eggman blocks the sun and sells "Sunshine Balls" to hypnotize the customers into thinking Sonic is a villain. Eventually, Eggman decides that the show should be called Eggman X and even shows its logo, which is the Sonic X logo, with an Eggman rather than Sonic, and instead of a shot of Sonic's head, there is a gray picture of Eggman's head.
  • And in The Ridiculous Epic Spy Battle, Chris Thorndyke imagines what it would be like if his teacher Mr. Stewart was a spy, and then imagines Stewart as a shadow walking across a blank background, then turning to the screen and shooting it with a pistol, smashing the viewer's television screen.
• South Park
  • In "It's Christmas in Canada" the boys travel to Canada to convince the Prime Minister to allow Kyle's brother, Ike, to return to America. Kenny is afraid to go on the adventure because he is afraid he will die, implying he is aware of the fact he dies in a majority of South Park episodes.
  • In "Cherokee Hair Tampons" where Stan sobs, fearing that Kyle is going to die, Kenny also angrily remarks, "You never fucking care when I die" (his speech is muffled).
  • In "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" at the end of the episode the boys say it feels like something is missing, while Kenny looks around anxiously, implying that they are aware Kenny dies in many episodes and think it is strange Kenny did not die in that episode. Furthermore, when "The End" flashes across the screen, Kenny cheers at the fact that he's still alive.
  • In "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics", Mr. Hankey talks directly to the audience. When Mr. Hanky waves and says "Howdy ho!" he normally faces the audience.
  • In "Cartman Joins NAMBLA", Kenny's mother is pregnant and gives birth after Kenny's death. The newborn baby is exactly identical to Kenny, orange parka and all. Kenny's parents remark that this is the 52nd time that they've gone through this process, referring to the 52 episodes in which Kenny has died and come back to life.
  • Near the end of the episode "Proper Condom Use", Chef says "...if you leave it up to the schools to teach sex to kids, you don't know who they're learning it from. It could be... even a complete pervert!" At that point, the camera turns to Mr. Garrison, who then says "What, why did you pan to me just now? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
  • In "I'm A Little Bit Country" Cartman tries to enter a Flashback. The episode ends with the entire cast singing of it being the 100th episode in the show, with Randy announcing it. Hilariously, Stan and Kyle are the only ones that are unaware that they are on TV.
  • In "Cancelled", the beginning of episode mirrors South Park's first episode and the characters realize that it already happened.
• Spacecats - The puppet and animated characters are fully aware of the narrator and will regularly talk to or argue with him. The three central characters appear at the end to do a moral of the story scene. In one scene set in a cinema, the characters on the big screen turn to face the audience and demand to know who made them lose concentration. One opening scene, that opens on a series of slide shows, only this time the slides are shown upside down, reversed or showing something completely different. One of the characters pushes a slide onto the blank screen, stating that a new projectionist is at fault, prompting the frustrated narrator to snap "Oh let's just start the show will ya!"
• Space Goofs In one episode, Etno says, "There's only about 10 minutes left in the show and I haven't done anything to help!" In another, as they are about to get engulfed by a big black closing circle, Candy steps in and tries to push it away and says, "And the show is not over until I say it is over!"
• Spider-Man: The Animated Series - In the series finale, the title character meets his creator, Stan Lee. It was explained as Spider-Man entering another dimension.
• SpongeBob SquarePants -
  • In the episode "Missing Identity", Patrick Star accidentally calls SpongeBob "SpongeBoob". After laughing a lot, Patrick looks at the screen and says "Sorry, people."
  • In "Plankton's Army", Karen the Computer starts nagging Sheldon J. Plankton and Plankton mutters to the audience, "And she's at it, ladies and gentlemen."
  • At the end of "I Had An Accident" the "view" zooms out to show a family watching the episode; they act confused and then turn off the TV.
  • In "No Free Rides" the narrator explains that if SpongeBob fails his final boating exam, he'll have to take another year of boating school. Upon hearing that, SpongeBob drives straight towards the "screen", colliding with it and creating static, and then a dead cameraman and a destroyed camera are shown in front of SpongeBob's boat. Mrs. Puff explains that he struck down a pedestrian.
  • In Wet Painters, Patrick is shown holding up the signs that say "One Hour Later" and such, and eventually addresses the director, saying that he's running out of them after the 3 hour one.
  • In "Christmas Who?" Patchy the Pirate reads a letter from a fan. After a comment from Potty the Parrot (a puppet), Patchy pulls Potty's string and a puppeteer falls down with him.
  • In "The Paper", SpongeBob does some origami and the audience cheers. Squidward Tentacles does the same and the audience boos.
  • In "SpongeBob's House Party" Patchy demands the audience get off his lawn and Potty reminds him that they are the television audience.
  • In "Welcome to the Chum Bucket" Plankton, angry at SpongeBob's lack of obedience, places his brain in a robot body and proclaims "SpongeBob get in here, or rather Robot Bob Sponge Chief Pants... (Addresses the audience) I put the brain in the robot you know!"
  • In "Sandy's Rocket", SpongeBob, happy that he gets to go on the rocket, he starts running along the wall, shouting gleefully. At some points, he walks right on the TV screen.
  • Finally, in "All That Glitters", when SpongeBob is crying at the hospital over the loss of his spatula, another SpongeBob appears in front of him on the screen, looks at the audience, and says in a trance-like voice,"All that glitters is not gold.", to the audience.
  • Once, when Mr. Krabs took Mrs. Puff out to dinner, she stated that there was "live entertainment", where it cuts to a scence showing a scuba diver playing the piano (live action).
• Teen Titans - In "Lightspeed", The Hive Five broke into the opening credits, announcing that they were "taking over this episode." Also, in "Episode 257-494", Cyborg exclaims "Hey! I know where we are! We're in the first episode of season 4!" Though he probably meant the show they got sucked into, the episode the viewer was watching was the first episode of season 4 Also, Robin grabs the screen at one point and informs the viewer to stop watching the TV, because it is emitting harmful rays that are rotting out our brains. After a pause, he seemingly notices that the TV is still on, and says "I'm serious, stop watching this show!" To add to it, Raven comments "Uh... Robin? I don't think they're listening..."
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
  • At the start of the episode "Super Rocksteady and Mighty Bebop," Shredder explains that he shouldn't be near Krang's Mezmerizer when Bebop and Rocksteady activate it. Krang says that Shredder doesn't have to explain it to him, since he (Krang) invented it. "I wasn't explaining it to you," Shredder states, pointing to the viewers, "I was explaining it to them."
  • in "Enter the Rat King" at one point Donatello says "I wish we had some of those Anti-Gravity boots from Episode 6" (this quote was also a goof as the episode Donatello was referencing Sky Turtles was episode 23, Episode 6 was Return of the Shredder)
  • In "April's Fool," the turtles are hanging on to a helicopter as it flies over the city. Raphael then turns toward the viewers and says "Remember, kids, we're professionals." Rocksteady also says a similar line after he and Bebop leap off a subway train in "Casey Jones, Outlaw Hero."
  • In "Once Upon a Time Machine," Donatello points out they have fourteen minutes to get back to their own time. Raphael then asks if that includes the commercials.
  • In "Planet of the Turtleoids" as Donatello is fantasizing about a place where the Turtles could be accepted for who they were, Raphael tells the viewers, "If he starts singing, I advise you to switch over to another channel."
  • In "Michealangelo's Birthday", Rocksteady calls the Turtles and tries to remember where Shredder wants to meet them but can't remember; Donatello says he knows where the address is, to which Rocksteady replies, "Gee, he must have seen this episode before".
  • In "Turtles of the Jungle", Donatello and Jocko (a monkey) have been turned into 30-foot giants by a crazy inventors growth ray hitting them. The two giants have a huge fight in New York City destroying a lot of buildings. Donatello then looks at us viewers at home and comments "The producers must have spent the entire seasons budget on this one episode." as he looks over the damage he and Jocko caused in their fight.
• Trigun - In an episode that mainly revolves around Meryl Strife and Millie Thompson assisting in protecting the land of an old couple, Meryl tries to prevent an attack from the enemy by shooting them out of the air. Vash, hiding in a trashcan, synchronizes his shot with hers and prevents the attack. The screen starts to shrink and Vash turns toward the viewer and asks, "Is this all the air-time I get?"
• Tiny Toon Adventures - Superman tries to save the day in one episode, but Buster Bunny says, "Get your own show! This is ours!"
• The Water Babies - Upon finding Tom, has been captured, a swordfish makes a remarke whilst looking directly at the camera.
• Veggie Tales- In the show's theme Bob tells Larry he has to pick an instrament to play in the theme. In Some episodes Bob and Larry introduce the episode and at the end of the episode they tell what the lesson of the epiisode is, at the end they say goodbye to the audience, sometimes one of the camera men says they still have time left and Bob and Larry have to fill up the time. Also in sometimes in the credits the characters make commets about the episode.
• Viva Piñata - The theme song to the show seems to be very popular among residents of Piñata Island. In the episode "Chewnicorn in the Garden", Fergy tries to listen to it to stay awake. In the episode "Legs", Les Galagoogoo plays a CD with that song on it to try to get Fergy to control his Cluckle legs. In the episode, "Franklin Can't Dance", Franklin has a hard time dancing to the song. In the episode, "Trojan Horstachio", Hudson dances with the Ruffians who are disguised as the female Horstachio to the song. In "The Crush", the jukebox was playing the song when it was "on the Fritz" in the flashback generated by Paulie and Fergy.
• Wallace and Gromit - In the various shorts, as well as The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Gromit frequently looks at the camera to deliver a nonverbal comment (by means of facial expression) on Wallace's words or actions.
• The Weekenders - Tino addresses the audience at the beginning and end of almost every episode. Sometimes other characters take Tino's place or do it with him. Also, on one episode with the reopening of Telsa Park, Tino goes on a rant about how his mom should be with Dixon, he ends with "GO TO SUNDAY!", then going to Sunday.
• Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? - With the exception of "When It Rains" and "Timing is Everything", Ms. Carmen Sandiego chats with the live-action players after her first crime and after the ACME detective regains the movie. Mason Dixon remarks, "That fun and game time is over!" to the Player after the failed crime at the beginning "Timing is Everything"
• What's With Andy - Andy Larkin always breaks the fourth wall by telling us his plans on pranking people or his status.
• Xcalibur - In one episode, Wip is hit by one of Kwodahn's energy balls (from an enslaving spell). Prompting him to look directly at the viewers, stating that the spell has no effect on dragons like him.
• Xiaolin Showdown - In episode 50: "Hannibal's Revenge", Raimundo openly mentioned the title of the show with the logo in his eyes. In addition, the rest (Master Fung, Omi, Kimiko, Dojo, and Clay) smiled and gave a thumbs up to the viewers. Also, in the Sapphire Dragon episode, Dojo climbs beyond the barrier of a letterbox scene. The Sapphire Dragon notices him, turns, and in an effort to blast him, sends fire directly towards the viewer.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! - In the episode, "Steppin' Out", Téa and Johnny Step play a Dance Dance Revolution game with the Yu-Gi-Oh! theme song as the dance song, slightly sped up with a techno beat. However, this was probably not the case in the original Japanese version; if it wasn't then it is merely a typical edit made by 4Kids, the anime's American dubbing company.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! GX - In the beginning of the episode "Back to Duel", Jaden Yuki acts as a voice-over twice. Both of those times, he gets interrupted by Syrus Truesdale. The first time Syrus asks Jaden who he is taking to, and Jaden replies, "To my fans, I guess." Whilst the second time, Syrus simply remarks, "Jaden, you're narrating again". In another episode, Jaden begins to sing the theme song of the show, only stopping when Chazz Princeton tells him to shut up. Also, during another episode when the protagonists visit the Town of Domino (the setting for the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series), and visit many of the sites from the original series, Syrus remarks "At least I'm up to date on my Yu-Gi-Oh! history!". In "The Art of the Duel", Jaden says, "I need a brief intermission!" to which Orlando replies, "Fine, we'll be right back!" immediately before a commercial break.
• Yvon of the Yukon - Before a commercial break during the last ten minutes of one episode, Tommy asks one of his clones from the future when he can thaw out Yvon. The Tommy clone answers with, "Oh, I don't know. Perhaps ten minutes including commercials."
• Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends In Mind That Bike, Percy tells the people watching that even though he did it by accident. He helped Tom Tipper the postman. Also in the episode Horrid Lorry, the narrator awnsered Percy's question (which was "What if a lorry does arrive?"). In Gordon Takes a Tumble, the narrator tells the viewers that 'no one felt more important than Gordon' and in Percy's New Whisle, after the narrator says to the people at home watching " Now that he had a super loud whisle.",Percy demmonstrates his new whisle for the people that did not hear it earlier. Also beginning in season 8, interactive learning segment premere and with the help of the narrator. these segments breaks the fourth wall.