Cartoons That Break the Fourth Wall

[Pietro]

I thought it would be fun if we could list some of the cartoons that break the fourth wall (a term that applies to the invisible wall that seperates the audience from the film).

"Porky's Duck Hunt" (1937/Avery) - After the "Moonlight Bay" bit, Porky turns to the audience and comments, "Th-th-there's s-s-s-something fishing about th-th-that!"

"Stage Door Cartoon" (1944/Freleng) - Elmer at the start of the cartoon ("I'll bet you think I'm going fishing...") and Bugs at the end ("I gotta million of 'em!")

"Hare Remover" (1946/Tashlin) - The fascinating aspect of this cartoon is that it breaks the fourth wall continuously; from the opening scenes of Elmer in the lab ("I'm twying to make a formuwa that will change an ordinawy chawacter into a deviwish fiend!") to Bugs mistaking a grizzly bear for Elmer ("What do ya know! Dis stuff woiks!")

"Duck Amuck" (1953/Jones) - The whole thing is basically an entire deconstruction of the fourth wall.

These are just some examples off the top of my head, I'm sure you guys can add more to the list.

-Pietro:daffy:

[The Spectre]

There should be a distinction between those which include a simple 'aside' to the audience which is essentially the character's thoughts (like your examples from "Hare Remover") and when they actually address the audience as an audience (like your example from "Stage Door Cartoon")

[nakak]

"Canadian Can-Can" (The Inspector): Inspector makes an animator to put Two-faced Harry in jail.

"Frog Jog" (Tijuana Toads): Pancho asks the animator to draw him smaller.

Daffy Duck and Egghead: When Egghead shoots an audience to the theater (this was cut out in Cartoon Network)

"Rabbit Rampage" - This of course was a remake of Duck Amuck, so it has alot of 4th wal breaking

[J. B. Warner]

I think it was Frank Tashlin's "The Case of the Stuttering Pig" that had the antagonist foiled by some guy in the third row.

Both "My Favorite Duck" and "Rabbit Punch" end with the film breaking. In the former, Daffy walks onscreen and tells the audience what happened in the ending, but Porky drags him offscreen and hits him over the head with his gun; in the latter, Bugs apologizes for the inconvenience, but holds up a pair of scissors and says "Confidentially, that film didn't actually break".

[J. J. Hunsecker]

"Porky's Duck Hunt" (1937/Avery) - After the "Moonlight Bay" bit, Porky turns to the audience and comments, "Th-th-there's s-s-s-something fishing about th-th-that!"

Also in the same cartoon: when that darn fool duck retrieves Porky's dog, Rin Jin Jin, instead of the other way around, Porky points out that that wasn't in the script.

[Cartman]

THUGS WITH DIRTY MUGS - Killer and the cop both interact with an audience member.

HOLD THE LION PLEASE - Bugs' line to the audience, "King of the jungle and he ain't even master in his own domain! Now me, I wear the pants in my family."

A DATE TO SKATE - Popeye asks someone in the audience for a can of spinach.

THE MOOSE HUNT - After Mickey thinks he has accidentally shot Pluto, he says "Is there a doctor in the house?"

HILLBILLY HARE - After the Marten Brothers shoot at Bugs' carrot, Bugs says "Persistenant little cusses, ain't they?"

DAFFY DUCK AND THE DINOSAUR - Casper Caveman says to the audience at the beginning "I'm sure a lot of you are cranky before breakfast too!"

THE BIG SNOOZE - Elmer asks if any of the women have the same kind of experience that he has when the Hollywood wolves howl at him.

[guy incognito]

In "Hair-Raising Hare", when Bugs asks if there's a doctor in the house, and later in the same short when he alerts the Monster to the horrifying presence of "PEOPLE!"

In "Rhapsody Rabbit" and "The Ducksters", when Bugs and Daffy respectively shoot at audience members. (I'm rather surprised Pietro didn't mention the latter, given his avatar and all. ;) )

[Brandon Pierce]

strange, I always thought "breaking the fourth wall" meant a really wild gag. I appear to be way off.

[nakak]

strange, I always thought "breaking the fourth wall" meant a really wild gag. I appear to be way off.Breaking the 4th wall is when the characters in stories or movies know they're just characters in the movie/story and usually talk to the audience or talks to the cartoonist.

There's several "Rocky and Bullwinkle" episodes where the characters talk to the narrator.

[Cartman]

In "Hair-Raising Hare", when Bugs asks if there's a doctor in the house, and later in the same short when he alerts the Monster to the horrifying presence of "PEOPLE!"

In "Rhapsody Rabbit" and "The Ducksters", when Bugs and Daffy respectively shoot at audience members. (I'm rather surprised Pietro didn't mention the latter, given his avatar and all. ;) )
Actually in RHAPSODY RABBIT, Bugs shoots at a member of the RECITAL audience who is in the cartoon him/herself. It's not referencing a movie theater audience. I think the same thing applies to THE DUCKSTERS.

I hope I'm explaining this well without it sounding too confusing.

[guy incognito]

Actually in RHAPSODY RABBIT, Bugs shoots at a member of the RECITAL audience who is in the cartoon him/herself. It's not referencing a movie theater audience. I think the same thing applies to THE DUCKSTERS.
Yes, now that you mention it, both of those audiences were audiences *within* the premise of the narrative, so I guess you're right that they probably don't count as true fourth wall breaches.

[Nick]

More examples:

In "King Size Canary" the mouse says that he's seen the cartoon before, and knows what happens in the end.

After sawing Tom in half, Jerry holds a sign that says "Is there a doctor in the house" in "Mouse Trouble".

Daffy notes that the animator has made a mistake in "Ain't That Ducky" by not drawing a barrel.

The wolf skids off the edge of the film reel in "Dumb Hounded".

The audience suffer from rabbititus in "Hare Tonic".

And in "Big Heel Watha", Big Heel Watha says, "In a cartoon, you can do anything".

[JDWeil]

A Flip the Frog cartoon, from 1932 or '33 titled Room Runners has such a sequence.

[Peter Paltridge]

I'm surprised no one's done these:

The Duckrakers: The cartoon ends with Daffy heading for the saw and yelling, "HEY LADY!!! IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE BALCONY???"

I forget which one, but there are several instances where the silhouette of an audience member stands up and is threated with a gun(or actually shot). I remember one really funny one where the guy holds his gun to the person leaving and he gets all nervous and says, "Uhh, sorry sir, I'll get back to my seat!"
He pulls the gun away, and then leans in and says, "And I woulda DONE it, too!" LOL....

There is also a Porky Pig cartoon that's done like a mystery, with some guy cackling "No one can stop me...not even the GUY IN THE THIRD ROW!" The cartoon ends with the guy caught and he's like, "Who ratted me out?" "IT WAS ME! THE GUY IN THE THIRD ROW!!"

[The Spectre]

strange, I always thought "breaking the fourth wall" meant a really wild gag. I appear to be way off.
You're probably thinking of "pushing the envelope".

[J. B. Warner]

I'm surprised no one's done these:

The Duckrakers: The cartoon ends with Daffy heading for the saw and yelling, "HEY LADY!!! IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE BALCONY???"
That's "The Ducksters", and that gag was already shot down in another thread when somebody pointed out that Daffy was addressing the radio audience.


There is also a Porky Pig cartoon that's done like a mystery, with some guy cackling "No one can stop me...not even the GUY IN THE THIRD ROW!" The cartoon ends with the guy caught and he's like, "Who ratted me out?" "IT WAS ME! THE GUY IN THE THIRD ROW!!"
That's "The Case of the Stuttering Pig", which I already mentioned.

[guy incognito]

And in "Big Heel Watha", Big Heel Watha says, "In a cartoon, you can do anything".
Sylvester holds up a sign expressing the same idea in "Peck Up Your Troubles".

[Cartman]

What about SOUP OR SONIC where Wile holds up a sign to the audience that reads something like: OKAY, YOU WANTED ME TO CATCH HIM, NOW WHAT? This occurs after the Roadrunner goes through a pipe and becomes gigantic.

[J. J. Hunsecker]

The entire plot of POWER OF THOUGHT breaks the fourth wall when Heckle and Jeckle realize they can take advantage of being cartoon characters and do anything they want.

[Jave]

I can't believe no one has mentioned what perhaps is the biggest wall-breaking gag in cartoon history.

Tex Avery's "Batty Baseball" starts abruptly by inmediately showing the title card, followed by a couple of scenes of the cartoon. An angry baseball asks who did this cartoon, where's the opening with the lion roaring, etc. Then the cartoons starts all over, this time with the proper opening MGM sequence, credits and all.

[Davesnothere]

In "Who's Cookin' Who?" (boy, I'm referencing this one a lot lately!) Woody asks if somebody in the audience can get him a candy bar from the lobby after he finds out his food is gone.

[angilbas]

A Bird in a Guilty Cage features an aside from Sylvester: "How naive can you get?"


-Tony

[Tom41]

I think we need a distinction here between where a character simply talks to the audience (e.g. the "Any of you girls had this problem" in The Big Snooze), and where a character physically interacts with the audience (e.g. Egghead shooting a member of the audience, or bursting through the canvas screen)

[Mibbitmaker]

Of course, Tex Avery is the king of 4th wall breaking. It was one of his major contributions to the Warner house style. He even did other characters-in-front-of-the-credits gags, like Bugs in the first Tortois vs. Rabbit cartoon, and, for MGM, Screwy Truant (I think it was that one). In one Screwy Squirrell cartoon there's the gag ending with him saying: "Funny gag...Too bad you couldn't see it". And I love the scene in Lucky Duck with the "end of Technicolor".

Another film-breaking moment is in Popeye's Goonland cartoon, where the film snaps from Popeye and Pappy fighting the Goons. Then real-life hands pin the film back together after the goons fall out and the two sailors hang on successfully.

I think any character-talking-to-audience bit where the character addresses them as "folks" (technically, most LT and MM cartoons fit in here) is a legit 4th wall breaker.

[Cartman]

In Disney's THE FLYING JALOPY, Ben Buzzard speaks to the audience saying "Little does he know that I, Ben Buzzard, am the beneficiary" after he has tricked Donald into signing an insurance form in case of a plane accident.

[Lonestarr]

I think we need a distinction here between where a character simply talks to the audience (e.g. the "Any of you girls had this problem" in The Big Snooze), and where a character physically interacts with the audience (e.g. Egghead shooting a member of the audience, or bursting through the canvas screen)
So, I guess I can't mention this aside, also from "The Big Snooze": "Bette Davis is going to hate me for this."

[Tom Stathes]

Another film-breaking moment is in Popeye's Goonland cartoon, where the film snaps from Popeye and Pappy fighting the Goons. Then real-life hands pin the film back together after the goons fall out and the two sailors hang on successfully.
I'm surprised that no-one has already pointed out how in real life, you can't just pin together film for it to run. If the film is an thicker than usual (i.e.,having a pin run through it) or if the sprockets are not properly aligned, and you run the film, you'll just damage the film and projector furthermore.

In real life, you would have to use a splicer with film cement or just splicing tape. But ultimately, these animated techniques don't work.
Tom

[Geezil]

The Hungry Goat, a/k/a "What Fourth Wall?!??"

[Bobby B]

I Yam Love Sick-"Is there a doctor in the house?"

Too Weak to Work-ambulance pulls up to the screen to take Bluto away.

Me Musical Nephews/Riot in Rhythm/Keep Your Grin Up-characters jump off the screen and run up the aisle of the theater.

[Jave]

There's also "Greetings, Bait", where the Jerry Cologna worm adresses to the audience that the fight between him and the crab is so violent, that it will be covered for safety.

As for modern cartoons, "Garfield & Friends" was perhaps the best show at making fourth-wall gags.

[Tintin]

That's sound stupid like question but, who's are Fourth Wall?

[Cartman]

That's sound stupid like question but, who's are Fourth Wall?
Read the first post of this thread.

[Tintin]

Read the first post of this thread.Ok, i agree

The famous "Hush Yo Mouf" in "The Daffy Doc"
the card "Throw the Boum Out" in Baton Bunny

[Howard Fein]

I can't believe no one has mentioned what perhaps is the biggest wall-breaking gag in cartoon history.

Tex Avery's "Batty Baseball" starts abruptly by inmediately showing the title card, followed by a couple of scenes of the cartoon. An angry baseball asks who did this cartoon, where's the opening with the lion roaring, etc. Then the cartoons starts all over, this time with the proper opening MGM sequence, credits and all.

Uhh, don't you mean, an angry baseball player? But your point is well-taken.

Other fourth-wall breakers that come to mind:

THE BLOW-OUT: "I'll make sure he [Porky] gets blown to bits whether you people out there like it or not!"

BUGS BUNNY AND THE THREE BEARS: He's trying to fend off the advances of a lovestruck Mama Bear: "Stop- there's people lookin' at us!" [points at screen]

RABBIT HOOD: After Little John's umpteenth interruption: "I know, I know- 'Never worry, never fear, Robin Hood will soon be here. He steals from the rich and gives to the poor-' Aah, you been sayin' that all through the pitcher!"

At the end of GEE, WHIZ-Z-Z-Z, Wile E holds up a sign during a fall: "How about ending this cartoon before I hit?" The iris-out begins, to which he holds up another sign: "Thank you."

ME MUSICAL NEPHEWS: Popeye makes sure they include in their prayers "all the nice people who come and see our pictures."

In one Casper cartoon, he scares someone right off the screen into an animated theatre audience.

[jeff_schiller]

God there are too many of these...but fun to think of them anyway. These are the one I can think of that explicitly call attention to the fact that it's a cartoon/film as opposed to the character making a passing remark to the audience (for instance the closing gags in "My Little Duckaroo" or "High Diving Hare"):

"Wabbit Twouble" - Bugs says to the audience something to the effect of "I do this kind of stuff to him all through the picture" (referring to Elmer and the pranks he pulls on him).

"Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips" - Bugs says to the audience "I'm just passing time until the island that inevitably appears in this type of picture inevitably appears". I love the opening of this cartoon but the rest is obviously dogged by war-time racism.

"Birth of a Notion" - While Daffy is being chased by the Peter Lorre evil scientist, the cartoon cuts to Leopold the dog who makes a comment on the lousy part he has in this picture.

Regards,
Jeff

[J. B. Warner]

Ok, i agree

The famous "Hush Yo Mouf" in "The Daffy Doc"
the card "Throw the Boum Out" in Baton Bunny
In both those instances, the characters are addressing audiences WITHIN THE CARTOON (Daffy to the audience watching the operation, Bugs to the audience watching his concert).

[Killtacular]

Definitely the Screwy Squirrel cartoons. Such as the one consists of the two characters chasing each other in front of a pan loop which ends up being connected to the original title card (if I remember correctly). I can tolerate fourth wall jokes.. when they're silly like that, and less "HEY YOU IN THE AUDIENCE!"

[J. B. Warner]

Definitely the Screwy Squirrel cartoons. Such as the one consists of the two characters chasing each other in front of a pan loop which ends up being connected to the original title card (if I remember correctly). I can tolerate fourth wall jokes.. when they're silly like that, and less "HEY YOU IN THE AUDIENCE!"
Maybe I'm thinking of the same cartoon as you...I remember a Screwy Squirrel cartoon called "The Screwy Truant" where, at one point, Screwy's antics are interrupted by the Big Bad Wolf chasing Red Riding Hood around the woods. Screwy has to stop the wolf and inform him that he's in the wrong cartoon by showing him the title card and character headshot from the beginning of the film.

As a matter of fact, I think that was the only Screwy cartoon I've ever seen.

[Nick]

Maybe I'm thinking of the same cartoon as you...I remember a Screwy Squirrel cartoon called "The Screwy Truant" where, at one point, Screwy's antics are interrupted by the Big Bad Wolf chasing Red Riding Hood around the woods. Screwy has to stop the wolf and inform him that he's in the wrong cartoon by showing him the title card and character headshot from the beginning of the film.

There's also "Happy Go Nutty", where Screwy and Meatend run past the "The End" title card, and decide what the ending should be like. Also in "Screwball Squirrel" (his first appearance) screwy provides his own sound effects, stops a broken record and leaves a please wait sign. That same cartoon also has a hilarious mock of Disney's Silly Symphonies, where a cute realistic squirrel gets beaten up Screwy. "The funny stuff happens when the phone rings"

[DSRGirl]

I can tolerate fourth wall jokes.. when they're silly like that, and less "HEY YOU IN THE AUDIENCE!"
For a guy who can really only tolerate them, you sure as hell make a lot of good 4th Wall jokes in High Score Bonus Stage.

One of my Favorite 4th Wall Breaking Bits was in "Tortise Beats Hare" when Bugs was reading the animators and director's names (someone else mentioned this I believe). And you know, compared to cartoons today, there were a lot more 4th Wall Breaking comments in the golden day.

[Jave]

"Little Red Walking Hood": Egghead refers to himself as "The Hero in this picture."

"Goldilocks and the Jivin' Bears": At one point one of the bears says: "It's right here on da book!"

And every time Bugs Bunny said "Ain't I a Stinker?"

[Cartman]

No one has mentioned A DATE TO SKATE where a member of the theater audience throws a can of spinach to Popeye.