In one episode, Mary (Jane Curtin) is watching TV when we hear that, coming up next, is the Susan Saint James story on Biography. Mary gives a dismissive “Pffftt… who cares about her?” and changes the channel.
Jane Curtin & Susan Saint James, of course, having been co-stars in the 1980’s sitcom “Kate & Allie”.
Similarly, in I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, two of the characters are in a club and comment on the absolutely terrible lounge singer mutilating some song.
“How did she end up here?”
“She’s the director’s sister.”
Which she was. Altogether, there were five Wayans in the film besides Keenan Ivory.
Ahh…I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I think that the true inspiration of the nose is more self-referential than you might think…
The nose plays.
In The Muppet Movie, when Fozzie and Kermit meet Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, Kermit starts explaining everything that’s happened in the film so far, and Fozzie cuts him off, saying, “We don’t have time for this. Here, read the script instead” and hands the script of “The Muppet Movie” to Dr. Teeth.
There’s also a bit where someone makes the same “Hare Krishna” joke that was made earlier in the movie, and Kermit says, “Oh, a recurring gag.”
In At the Circus, the villainess puts the McGuffin (I think the deed to the circus) down her cleavage, and Groucho turns to the audience and says “How am I going to get that out without getting the Hays Office mad” or words to that effect. The Hays Office was in charge of censorship at the time.
Adaptation. The movie (you come to realize as you watch it) is about writing the movie.
Another 3rd Rock moment: Dick & Mary attend a fantasy convention where Mary sees a couple dressed as Coneheads and gives them the Jane Cutain patented look of disdain.
Jane Curtain was on the original Conehead slots on Saturday Night Live.
When Senior Welches and his puppets were on the Muppets, Fonzie Bear gave a two minute speech to Kermit about how puppets were stupid and who would want to watch them. After he finished and ran off the stage, Kermit looked out, gave a Kermit look and said “I didn’t have the heart to tell him.”
The Muppet Christmas Carol has several references to it being a movie:
A couple of German movies have “yeah, we know this is a movie” moments:
Run Lola Run and
Funny Games
I wasn’t able to connect to the video, but the title sounds right.
A distant cousin* of mine voiced Wilbur for this movie. I didn’t find this out while it was still in the theaters, so we’ve been dying for it come out on DVD so we can watch it (buy it?) at Chez Shibb. He also did the voice of Charlie Brown in some more recent things.
*My dad’s cousin’s kid. Second cousin, once removed? I can never figure that stuff.
In a recent episode of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, their kid’s audition for their school’s version of “High School Musical”. Ashley Tisdale played Sharpay, the antagonist in HSM. Maddie, her character in TSLoZaC auditions for the role of Sharpay, and remarks throughout the episode that people tell her all the time she looks just like Sharpay. The running gag is that everyone just shakes their head and says “I don’t see it”.
Yes, I have pre-teen kids, why do you ask?
Second cousins exactly. Children of first cousins are second cousins.
In Spaceballs, not only do they watch the video tape of the movie, as they fast forward through it, they end up watching the exact moment they’re in. An infinite regression of themselves watching themselves watching the movie.
One character tries to sell Spaceballs movie merchandise to the other characters. And some of the film crew gets accidentally killed during the light-saber fight.
And “Jack” crashes through the screen at the end, having run all the way from Ohio(?) trying to catch up with the Frog & Bear.
As does Muppet Treasure Island:
Rizzo: He died? And this is supposed to be a kids’ movie.
Long John Silver: Up stage, lads. This is my only number.
Statler: Waldorf, you old fool! We’re heroes! We saved the pig and the frog.
Waldorf: Well, it was too late to save the movie.
The various Muppet movies spent a lot of time breaking their fourth walls. In The Great Muppet Caper there is a scene where Diana Rigg’s character has just finished explaining some things to Kermit and company.
Kermit asks “Why are you telling us all of this?”
Riggs replies “It’s all plot exposition and character development; it has to go somewhere!”
Also, in The Great Muppet Caper, you have Kermit, Fozzie, and Gonzo reacting to the opening credits.
Gonzo: Does anybody read these?
Kermit: Sure. They all have families.
There was a similar gag in a Green Acres episode where Lisa is looking toward the credits and Oliver asks what she’s doing. She says she’s waiting for Richard L. Bare (who directed all the episodes).
Rats. While I recognize several of the examples already cited (even the Boris Karloff thing - man, I’m getting old), I can’t think of anything myself. The best I can do is this instance of self-promotion:
In Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange there is a scene in a record shop. On prominant display are soundtrack albums from Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
In Go West, one of the lesser Marx Brothers movies, there’s a scene where they have a train’s engineer bound and gagged, and Groucho turns to the camera and says “Didya know this is the best gag in the picture?”
And in Horse Feathers at one point Groucho says to the audience, “I’ve got to stay here, but there’s no reason why you folks shouldn’t go out into the lobby until this thing to blows over.”
In Mr. 3000 there are two players who constantly ask each other trivia questions. One asks the other some soap opera trivia where the answer is the guy being quizzed. He didn’t know the question was coming up, and had to fake not knowing the answer.
Great bit of extra on the DVD .
