Breaking the Fourth Wall
 

Are you a fan of this (usually) comedic device in movies and tv?

(8 minutes in)

Ive always loved this device. It works especially well in something like The Muppet Movies.

I love when the "4th wall" is broken. It's like the actor is letting the audience in on a secret.

It really depends on the scene. If I've suspended my disbelief for 2 hours in a Lord Of The Rings movie, I don't want Frodo turning to the camera and talking to me.

This device is also used more like in plays but it's not just a comedic device.

Soliloquy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

But a soliloquy doesn't necessarily always break the forth wall. Sometimes it's just a character thinking out loud.

/\ First scene. Wayne's World makes an art of breaking the 4th wall.

I enjoy in professional wrestling how they do "shoot interviews." They are interviews or scenes where the wrestlers break (or pretend to break) "kayfabe" (breaking character and storyline), and address the fans or other wrestlers in a frank and distinct manner, often referring to them by their real names (instead if their character's name), and citing instances or events that happened in real life or behind the scenes (that were not part of the show or the storyline).

Ed O'Neill is great.

maybe I'm not understanding the fourth wall thing.

Could you explain?

I thought it just means that the character is talking to the audience or thinking out loud so that the audience could hear but the fellow characters around that person can't hear it.