Cartoons that make fun of themselves

[Atoon]

Which cartoons has made fun of themselves?

[Daffy Dork]

Garfield and Friends makes tons of "Break the 4th wall jokes".

Animaniacs sort of does... but they brag more.

And Sealab was making fun of itself by the end of the show, because they knew the show was bad.

[Zubby]

Simpsons does it all the time. It's one of the most self-referential shows out there.

[JDWeil]

I've noticed that Duel Masters does that.

[Gokou Ruri]

Fairly Odd Parents and Jimmy Neutron poke fun at themselves quite a few times.. especially when Sheen asks Jimmy why they don't need spacesuits in space and Jimmy's reply is drown out by Carl's singing.

[Dr. Dave]

The old Bullwinkle show was famous for such jokes:


Rocky: "What's an A-Bomb?"
Bullwinkle: "That's what some people call our show" :D

[eJm]

Duel Masters is a definate for me.

I get sort of down when people say it sucks when the appeal for me is the fact that not only does it parody itself, it parodies Americanised Anime as a whole.

[John Pannozzi]

Tiny Toon Adventures

Rocko's Modern Life

[Zubby]

Teen Titans has done this a few times.
The most obvious is in "Episode 257-494", but it's happened in other episodes as well.

[tb4000]

Most cartoon shows do it, as do most animated movies. A lot of it involves blatant plot holes, in-jokes about the show, or references to the audience.

[Brettfern]

Garfield and Friends makes tons of "Break the 4th wall jokes".
I'm going to go with Garfield also. You should see all the jokes they have made with TMNT, CBS, and the one time at the end of the opening sequence Garfield says "Don't bother turning on NBC. They don't show cartoons anymore."

[Ojamajo_LimePie]

Bo^7 is full of 4th wall jokes and self-parodies.

[HellCat]

Family Guy will often do jokes about the show itself, such as Peter noticing his 'balls chin' and sticking it down his trousers, the episode which turns out to be a history lesson from the future which ends with a student echoing the commonly asked fan question "So, can they understand the baby or not?" and the joke about Connie's constant pregnancy.

[Aztec]

TMNT does it about the original show quite regularly.

South Park also pretty commmonly does this as well.

[Batman91]

They make fun of themselves constantly on Duck Dodgers.

[Stickman]

While not on TV, Bonus Stage used to make fun of itself like... every other episode. It got old. Quick.

[HellCat]

Can't believe I forgot- Samurai Pizza Cats was based strongly on 4th wall jokes.

[Daffyfan2003]

Another show that seemed famous for making fun of itself was "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo," considering they had all those 'special announcements.' Also, the way the cast reacted whenever Velma said 'Jinkies.'

[Elven Moon]

Pokemon did this a few times, with jokes such as "We have to fill a half hour!" (the American version, anyway).

[Brettfern]

South Park also pretty commmonly does this as well.Let's not go there. I can't stand S.P.

[HellCat]

Let's not go there. I can't stand S.P.
I don't remember it being said you personally were allowed to tell people what shows they can and cannot mention here.

[nakak]

There was a 1960s "Krazy Kat" animated series, and in one episode, when Kokonino Kounty went bankrupt, Ignatz got an idea to earn money:

Ignatz: Sell!

Officer Pupp: Sell what, pipsqueak?

Ignatz: Sell ourselves to animation! We can have an animated cartoon about ourselves!

O.P.: That's ridiculous (laughs)

(Ignatz throws bricks at him)

Ignatz: Go ahead and laugh! They laughed at Al Brodax, too!

(Note: Al Brodax was the series' producer)

[makarios]

It seems to be standard practice nowadays for cartoons.

Ed, Edd and Eddy does it quite often, such as when Edd complains that he's already had his excercize for the season or when Eddy references the script.

Mandy stating that "The Grim Adventures of Mandy" doesn't sound as good or the Evil con Carne line: "Hey! I'm not even in this stupid show anymore."

[Hordesman]

Forget the episode title but Gargoyles had an ep late in season 2 making fun of the revenge-minded enemies that kept showing up.

[Majin Buu]

Teen Titans broke the 4th Wall a bit in "For Real" ("Puppet King?! He only showed up once! I'm a RECURRING villain!"), and also poked some fun at the show's obsessive fans.

[HellCat]

Forget the episode title but Gargoyles had an ep late in season 2 making fun of the revenge-minded enemies that kept showing up.
Would that be the one with the guy who kept popping up in some minor role where the Gargoyles frighten him, so he spends an episode chasing Goliath with a bazooka and finally shoots him with it at the end, hitting Goliath in the face with a custard pie and walks off whistling the show's theme tune?

[Gary L Thompson]

I remember a "Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles" episode (the '80s version) in which Shredder pronounced the Turtles were doomed, and one shot back, "Hey, you know they're never going to call it the 'Shredder Show'!"

One of the most self-mocking shows of all time had to be the "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes".


I'm going to go with Garfield also. You should see all the jokes they have made with TMNT, CBS, and the one time at the end of the opening sequence Garfield says "Don't bother turning on NBC. They don't show cartoons anymore."To me the high point of that (seemingly always cut in the syndicated reruns, sadly) was when Garfield and Nermal were fighting for their lives against mutated guppies. When they finally chased them back down the sewer through the use of tatar sauce, the cartoon ended.

The show then followed up with a "U.S. Acres" short, over whether the characters should make a wish on a well. When they do, the mutated guppies break out of the well, snarling, sending the "U.S. Acres" cast scattering for the hills.

Then the guppies quit snarling and look at each other trying to figure out what to do next. One of them finally suggests they visit "Muppet Babies" and the three saunter off over the horizon.

Fadeout.


Would that be the one with the guy who kept popping up in some minor role where the Gargoyles frighten him, so he spends an episode chasing Goliath with a bazooka and finally shoots him with it at the end, hitting Goliath in the face with a custard pie and walks off whistling the show's theme tune?Maybe "Transformers, Robots in Disguise" should have had a similar episode. There was some poor office lady who was always getting inadvertantly caught in the crossfire between the Transformers and the Decepticons every episode!

[John Pannozzi]

Futurama kinda broke the 4th wall in the episode "Bender should not be allowed on television" when Cubert and Dwight decide to steal, and then we see the Futurama logo, and we hear Bender say "You're watching Futurama, the show that does not advocate the cool crime of stealing".

Also, there was a Merrie Melodie cartoon, "She Was an Acrobat's daughter" (it's on Looney Tunes: Golden Collection volume 3, that how's I came across it) that made fun of the older Merrie Melodies and musical cartoons in general.

[HellCat]

Maybe "Transformers, Robots in Disguise" should have had a similar episode. There was some poor office lady who was always getting inadvertantly caught in the crossfire between the Transformers and the Decepticons every episode! You mean Junko (yeesh, what a name) or Kelly as I think the dub called her? She seems to have scored fanboys for her trouble (I've seen at least one Japan-only Transformers set which includes a figure of her dressed up as a race girl).

Might as well throw in that the early SD Gundam stuff was pretty much all about making fun of the various shows. The more recent stuff has lost that element but it's been picked up by various comics, most recently the SEED Club stuff. The comics also seem to be alot more biting in terms of the shots they take.

[Kazuya Prower]

I've noticed that Duel Masters does that.
That's really the dub of Duel Masters.

[Ember McLean]

While reading these posts, the Mighty DucksL Animated Series came to mind, though. In the beginning of series, Phil was boasting about the Mighty Ducks franchise and he says something like, "Hey! Maybe even a cartoon show!" And the Ducks begin to argue saying that will never happen.

[HellCat]

While reading these posts, the Mighty DucksL Animated Series came to mind, though. In the beginning of series, Phil was boasting about the Mighty Ducks franchise and he says something like, "Hey! Maybe even a cartoon show!" And the Ducks begin to argue saying that will never happen. Mighty Ducks was full of 4th wall humour "Captured twice in one episode...that's gotta be a record!". The one I remember best was from the series finale, when they had finally beaten their enemies by retrapping them in dimensional limbo. The dialogue went something like "Finally, it's over..." "Yeah......have we been renewed for another season?"

[Dr. Furball]

Homestar Runner does it all the time, especially in the SBEmails (Example: See "huttah!")
Something often seen in the manga, but very rarely in the anime, is a break in the fourth wall in Lupin III (Lupin saying "Title!" just before the episode's title comes up.)

[mojokingbee1]

Mighty Ducks was full of 4th wall humour "Captured twice in one episode...that's gotta be a record!". The one I remember best was from the series finale, when they had finally beaten their enemies by retrapping them in dimensional limbo. The dialogue went something like "Finally, it's over..." "Yeah......have we been renewed for another season?"
It was more like, "I wonder if that's the last we'll see of them?" "That depends, have we been renewed for another season?"

[Zubby]

Teen Titans broke the 4th Wall a bit in "For Real" ("Puppet King?! He only showed up once! I'm a RECURRING villain!"), and also poked some fun at the show's obsessive fans.

In Episode 257-494 (one of my favorite TT episodes), the Titans are walking through the set of a Star Wars-like tv show (they're trapped in tv programs) when Cyborg says "I know wherre we are. We're in the first episode of season four!"
Episode 257-494 is the first episode of Teen Titans season four.

[tb4000]

No one watches Arthur on PBS? It's PBS, but that is a good ass show. The ep. where they're all attempting to create shows for a tv show contest and they're watching a knockoff of their own show, and they're like, "what are they supposed to be, animals?" and "if they're all animals, how come they have pets?"

[John Pannozzi]

I'll explain how Tiny Toon Adventures made fun of itself: There have been TONS of self-referencial stuff in TTA (they even had executive producer Steven Spielberg as a semi-recurring character), but perhaps the most memorable (most making fun of the show itself was in the "Two-Tone Town" episode, Tiny Toons is replaced by a show starring nearly-forgotten early Warner Bros. cartoon characters (a scary glimpse of the not-too-distance future, as Animaniacs primered a year after this episode first aired) and their show's theme song is a parody of the Tiny Toons theme. Also Plucky had his own self-serving variations on the Tiny Toons theme in the short-lived recycling job spin-off The Plucky Duck Show (that show's only original material was its primere episode, "The Return of Batduck", which aired in reruns as regular TTA episode, but has been edited to fit in the regular Tiny Toons) and the series finale "It's a Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special".

Rocko's Modern Life's parody of itself was in the episode "Heff in a Handbasket", when at the end Peaches fails to seal Heffer's soul, so his boss, Dracula, says that Peaches will receive the ultimate punishment. Then we see Rocko and the gang watching TV. They watch a "new cartoon show", Peaches's Modern Life, in which Peaches mimics the Rocko opening, dropping out of a momma kangaroo's pouch and waving a rattle, and then yelling "Spunky!".

I don't think it made fun of itself persay, but Ralph Bakshi's short-lived late 1980s TV show Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures had a lot of cool in-jokes and references to Terrytoon history as well as a lot of parodies of pop culture in general.

Ren & Stimpy made fun of itself occasionally (even John K. was trying to get away from self-referencial stuff when he went from the previously-mentioned late '80s Mighty Mouse revival to Ren & Stimpy). In "Haunted House", Ren says "this looks like a great palce to kill 11 minutes". And the episode "Who's Stupid Now?" (a Games episode based on the unmade Spumco story "The Big Switch") was a parody of the television industry, as was "Hard Times for Haggis" and "Stupid Sidekick Union".

[Dantheman]

In a episode of SpongeBob Squarepants,Squidward once made a comment about always being bothered by SpongeBob for eleven minutes at a time,or something like that.

[k-unit101]

Not to sound dumb, but what is a 4th wall joke? LOL sorry I'm just wondering

[straw_hat]

My mother never liked Ren and Stimpy mostly because she found Ren to be an ugly looking character. So I told her about the episode "Stimpy's Fan Club" where Stimpy gets a letter from a little girl asking what the ugly looking thing that's always yelling at him was.

[HellCat]

Not to sound dumb, but what is a 4th wall joke? LOL sorry I'm just wondering
It comes from theater. Basically, as far as characters in a play/show/film are concerned, there are 4 walls to their world. The background and 2 sides are walls 1-3 and the view facing the audience is considered the 4th wall. The idea is that most characters are unaware they are characters and so remain consistant that what they are experiencing is reality. Some writers however realised the use of having characters that are self-aware. They know to some degree they're just in a story and are able to interact with the audience as such. Since they're going against a rule, ignoring the 4th wall that should block such actions, they're 'breaking' the 4th wall.

[tb4000]

After Aladdin, most Disney animated movies started breaking that wall, did you notice?

[90'sCartoonMan]

Freakazoid used to do it all the time.

Freakazoid: This is my freak-a-lair
Fanboy: I didn't know you had this.
Freakazoid: Well in this episode I do.

Clerks broke the fourth wall when they had the characters answering letters from viewers.

[Hiya Animation]

The Incredibles kinda did it. They poked fun at the monologueing villians.
James :zim:

[k-unit101]

It comes from theater. Basically, as far as characters in a play/show/film are concerned, there are 4 walls to their world. The background and 2 sides are walls 1-3 and the view facing the audience is considered the 4th wall. The idea is that most characters are unaware they are characters and so remain consistant that what they are experiencing is reality. Some writers however realised the use of having characters that are self-aware. They know to some degree they're just in a story and are able to interact with the audience as such. Since they're going against a rule, ignoring the 4th wall that should block such actions, they're 'breaking' the 4th wall.
Oh! LOL well you learn something new everyday haha. Thanx for explaining to me what it was. "Animaniacs!" used to do that sort of stuff all the time.

[CyborgRex]

The original TMNT cartoon did a lot. I believe the Simpsons did it to, and maybe Family Guy.

[veemonjosh]

The japanese version of the Chaotix episode of Sonic X (episode 39) pretty much shattered the fourth wall by the Chaotix sealing and watching THE FREAKIN' BOX SETS OF THE SERIES!!! Also, they poked fun at the information cards.

Here's Family Guy making fun of it's self:

In a building:
Peter: "Lois, a boat's a boat, but the mystery box could be anything! It could even be a boat! You know how much we've wanted one of those!"
Lois: "Then why don't we just---"
Peter: " We'll take the box."

In their car:
Lois: "Well, I hope you're happy with yourself Peter."
Peter: "It's not so bad Lois. Well, remember that time we almost got that boat?"

In a building:
Peter: "Lois, a boat's a boat, but the mystery box could be anything! It could even be a boat! You know how much we've wanted one of those!"
Lois: "Then why don't we just---"
Peter: " We'll take the box."

In their car:
Lois: "Peter, that happened ten minutes ago!"
Peter: "Oh."

:p

[Golgo13]

I think Earthworm Jim is worth mentioning.

Peter Puppy: What's that noise?
Jim: It's the plot development alarm!

[Tube Dude]

Ed, Edd, n' Eddy also occaisionally poke fun at themselves.

[Doopliss]

If this counts, The Simpsons made fun of Fox a lot of times.

[Dr. Furball]

If this counts, The Simpsons made fun of Fox a lot of times.
The '94 Spider-Man series did something similar.
J. Jonah Jameson: The other networks are laughing at me, Brock! Even Fox!

[Alex Toon]

The original TMNT cartoon did a lot. I remember one episode that attacked the idea of "family viewing"
Donatello: Is this going to be a strip search?
Raphael: Hope not. This is a family show!:D

[Chrono1995]

Garfield & Friends, outside of a few episodes and specials, was just one long exercise in breaking the fourth wall. I can barely think of an example of when Garfield WASN'T talking to the audience.

[veemonjosh]

I think the earliest case of a Disney movie breaking the fourth wall was in The Sword in the Stone. It was towards the end and Merlin made a comment along the lines of "Someday they'll make a movie out of you!"

Another Disney item worth mentioning is in Darkwing Duck when he mentioned that he has a comic series put out by Disney.

[Jex]

I've seen it in South Park. as well as Rocko's. But the best of all time has got to be Ed,Edd & eddy. When they built the fake carton city and Ed threw an anvil off of one of the buildings eddy said "Ed, stop your going to hurt someone. this ain't a cartoon" I still smile evrytime I think about it.

[Gokou Ruri]

Danny Phantom did it recently in "Secret Weapons", but I forget how the dialog went, it was basically.

"When fighting ghosts, first we exchange some witty banter, then we fight, then we all go home learning an important lession about honestly, or something.."
"Banter, fighting, lession... check"

[sun]

One Animaniacs ep (can't remember the name) this boreing guy, goes on and on and on, they meet him at a party, and try to get rid of him, and he turns up everywhere, on at a store, at a restaruant, on the bus, finally at home in bed with them,, he just pops in on the three, where ever they go.

This goes on the entire ep..It is in reality a whole ep of the Anmaniacs making fun of themselves, because Yacco always used to pop in on everyone he was trying to torment,(and this guy was tormmenting them) the only difference was Wacco was funny, and this guy was boreing, boreing and boreing... Stuart

[HellCat]

The "4th wall" is, in television, the screen. When a character "breaks" the 4th wall, they are either talking to the aidience or doing something else to suggest that they know they are fictional.

Not to be rude, but I answered that last month.

[Frank]

Beavis and Butthead do make fun of theirselves occasionally.

[R-Taco]

Not to be rude, but I answered that last month.

I skip over too many posts.

[M.A.S.]

In a Popeye episode ,Bluto and Popeye were in a swimming race and when Bluto poured quick drying cement ,a fish swam by reading Popeye comics.:)