Breaking the fourth wall is a technique that has been a staple of comic performance since 5th century B.C. Athens, and is emblematic of the permission comic characters enjoy in comedy. To achieve their ends, they are allowed almost anything — including enlisting the aid and succor of the audience attending the performance. Breaking the fourth wall is the acknowledgement of both the artificiality and the reality of performance and is at the heart of the immediacy and directness of comedy.
