This only cracks the 4th wall, but I like how on Psych and *Monk", whenever they would mention the number of cases solved, it would be equal to the number of cases in aired episodes. And on Monk they would often mention about police budgets and maybe not rehiring Monk where they are talking about budgets for the show and possible cancellation.
Oh, and the crazy stalker Sarah Silverman episode of Monk where she referrs to cases he has solved by the episode titles.
And makes an obvious comment about the theme music of Monk changing by complaining about the theme music of the in-universe cop show.
Not quite fiction, but there’s a great fourth-wall break in the mockumentary 24 Hour Party People, the story of Factory Records out of Manchester England and associated bands Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays, et. al.
Anyway, there’s a scene that takes place after a Buzzcocks show where BBC presenter Tony Wilson is enjoying a shag in the back of a van with a groupie, and is discovered in flagrante by his wife. Angry, she storms off and has a quickie of her own with Buzzcocks lead singer Howard DeVoto in the clubs’ toilets. (DeVoto was initially the lead singer; Pete Shelley took over frontman duties in 1977.)
A janitor in the background in the toilet turns to the camera and says: “I’m the real Howard DeVoto. That never happened.”
Oh and I can’t believe no one’s mentioned the post-credits “stinger” to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off yet: “What are you still doing here? The movie’s over! Go!”
This is a great one because of how it signals to us that Eddie’s character knows that we know he is intelligent and that these guys are incredibly condescending. That one glance at us signals, “Can you believe how little they think of me as a black guy from the streets?” and I love it.
Kevin Spacey has a great episode where he does not speak to the camera the entire episode and he does horrible things. At the end, he finally looks sideways to the camera and say, “Oh, hey, I bet you thought I forgot about you…”
It’s pretty well done and kind of scary. It’s the best moment in the US version.
Going back, Nanook of the North has a moment when Nanook looks at the camera and smiles, ackowleging there’s a camera crew in his home. It was a documentary, but it was the start of a trope that often appears in mocumentary shows.
Gentlemen Jack. Many great scenes with Suranne Jones speaking or looking at the audience. The Director Sally Wainwright explains why it was important.
https://www.hbo.com/gentleman-jack/sally-wainwright-suranne-jones-q-and-a
Fleabag does this to great effect, finally culminating in the big surprise in season 2.
Hot Priest noticing her interacting with audience
The violently mediocre sitcom Yes, Dear did a great episode that included a subplot involving getting a new couch and rearranging the living room. As a result, the couch faces away from the audience and the dialog discusses how it should be better like that, but something is just wrong.
This was the bit of breaking the 4th wall that made me start a similar thread 18 years ago. Lots of great new 4th wall breaks since then. At least your spelling was better than mine.
Tiny bit different. (DeVoto doesn’t identify himself, so his character’s confusion remains an inside joke if you don’t recognize him or have an insufferable Factory Records fan sitting next to you elbowing you all the time.)
Here’s TvTropes’ description, which is how I remember it:
In another scene, Tony’s wife Lindsay has sex with Magazine singer Howard Devoto (after catching Tony cheating on her); the film Tony (and in the DVD commentary, the real Tony) states that the story never happened, and the real Howard Devoto makes a cameo in the scene as a janitor, only to break the fourth wall and tell the audience “I definitely don’t remember this happening.”
Lazenby said “This never happened to the other fella” in the opening scene of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, right after saving Diana Rigg from drowning and then fighting off two goons, only to have Rigg drive away. Can’t really blame him for poking fun at the Bond Franchise in UNCLE after they threw all that money at Connery to come back for the lamentable Diamonds Are Forever.
In Never Give a Sucker an Even Break, W. C. Fields goes into an ice cream shop and orders an ice cream soda.
He then turns to the camera and says “This scene’s supposed to be in a saloon but the censor cut it out. It’ll play just as well this way.”
Then he blows the head off the soda.
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back features a few. One if when Mark Hamill (as supervillain Cock-knocker) gets his hand cut off, and says in an aside, “not again.”
One when Ben Affleck (as Holden McNeil), Jay and Bob are talking about why anyone would pay money to see a couple of one-dimensional characters in a starring role, they all turn and look at the camera.
Here is an emphatically non-comedic example:
The Mission (Robert deNiro, Jeremy Irons) has a frame story, in which a cardinal is writing a letter to the Pope, telling of all the doom and destruction in the movie. After the closing credits roll, we return the the cardinal at his desk. He finishes the letter and looks at the camera, with a look of remorse in his eyes.
My favorite as a kid was in Magical Maestro when a hair shows up onscreen and the character plucks it and tosses it away. You can see it here around 3:50.
My favorite isn’t a line, just a look.
It’s in The Naked Gun. Leslie Nielsen, as Detective Inspector Drebbin, is in a restaurant. Asked if he wants a drink, he says “What’s the strongest thing you have?” Out comes a bodybuilder and flexes. Drebbin says “Just give me a Black Russian.”
The waiter just looks up to the camera and shakes his head, ever so slightly.
It’s so much better than if they actually acted it out. That look says “We can bring out a black guy dressed up in Russian clothes and doing that squat-dancing, but you can fill in the gag on your own. we ain’t gonna do it.”
That’s actually from the second film: Naked Gun 2 1/2 - the Smell of Fear
That’s a great bit.