This thought occurred to me today, has anyone ever seen anyone do this in real life? 
It would be a good way to freak people out!
Does pointing out cliches in real life and asking who wrote this garbage count?
One way would be for a confederate in a scientific experiment to break the act and talk to the researchers.
But if you mean giving an aside glance and quoting Bugs Bunny, good luck with that. You’d look like a lunatic. And the problem with talking to the alien audience is you don’t know where the invisible camera is. The perv next door put one in your toilet and the CIA has a mic in your flower pot, but those are obvious.
I’d love to, but it just never seems to work naturally.
There isn’t a Fourth Wall in real life.
Logically, this is like asking if anyone has ever thought of ad libbing in real life. In both cases, real life doesn’t impose the limitation referred to (namely: “fourth wall” implies an audience, and “ad libbing” implies a script).
(You might enjoy 2003’s The Movie Hero, starring Jeremy Sisto as a guy who’s convinced that he’s in a movie (and hence does have a Fourth Wall to break).)
Which is precisely why breaking it would be funny.
You may remember the scene in “The Lost Skeleton of Kadavra” where the scientist is musing, “I wonder…” then there’s a cut to the other guy, miles away, by his campfire, who murmurs, “I also wonder…”
My friends, family, and I often break out into “I also wonder…” at no explicable moment, clearly in response to someone, miles away and entirely unknown to us, who is pondering life’s mysteries.
Making “asides” or “apostrophes” to non-existent audiences is far from unheard of in everyday discourse. The old “Thank you, I’ll be here all week, tip the waitress, try the veal” joke is essentially of that form.
Unless those with you are tired of the 'hey, let’s talk like we’re part of a fictional work’ trope, or indeed the whole 'could we be merely characters in someone else’s story?’ conceit. (Which was fresh in 1921. People have been ripping off Pirandello for more than eight decades, now!)
(And ripping off Zhuangzi for more than twenty-four centuries…)
My wife and I break it all the time. “Did you just roll your eyes to the studio audience?!” or “wait … I’m sharing this moment with the studio audience” kind of thing. The funny thing is, other people always know what we’re talking about. Well, people sitting in the studio audience, that is.
No it’s the opposite: there isn’t a fourth wall in drama, which is why it can be “broken” just by talking to the audience. In real life, breaking the fourth wall would involve a sledgehammer.
Isn’t that just “talking to yourself” which everyone does from time to time.
Unless you mean as, like, a practical joke. if so that could be something those Improv Everywhere people try for Youtube.
I’m tired of the “tired of the trope” trope…
Seriously, nothing new under the sun and all that. I’m tired of the heroic journey and the climactic battle – like you say, ripped off for more than 24 centuries. If you rule out all the old, tired, clichéd deals, nothing’s left!
During a conversation which resolves a major issue, I will occasionally look over my shoulder, make a witty comment to noone in particular, and smile while giving a thumbs-up.
So far, it hasn’t yet caused time to freeze and the credits to roll.
Perhaps my jokes haven’t been funny enough.
Of course you realize this means war!
My niece accused me of doing it. Sometimes I’ll throw out a non sequitur to a larger group and then look at her like she is my studio audience. It’s like getting two different reactions to the same joke.
See also The Man Who Knew Too Little.
The theory of drama has changed (cyclically, often) over the centuries. One aspect of this change is the attitude toward having those onstage acknowledge the existence of listeners/viewers. In some periods, having characters address the audience has seemed routine (in Shakespeare, for instance). In other periods, such elements are lauded as revolutionary and exciting.
The “fourth wall” in drama is a metaphorical concept. To say “there isn’t a fourth wall” seems to indicate a lack of comprehension of this metaphorical nature of the terminology.
I can but quote the late (and greatly missed) Mitch Hedberg:
I once saw a forklift lift a crate of forks…it was way too literal for me.
Never did see that one, but the wikipedia write-up makes it sound interesting. (Thanks!^_^)
You’re right, I’m far too stupid to know about metaphors.
It’s been done in a few *Twilight Zone *episodes. But in reality, it could only work if done by a group of people, with one person not in on it.
instead of an invisible fourth wall, let every passer-by or bystander be the audience. if you’re not eliciting a reaction, make sure to address them directly and speak in your stage voice.