Celebrity Paradox: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

 

So, in ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'', [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] doesn't exist and is not the governor of California. There's no Gubernator. Or, in the world of ''[[The Dark Knight Saga|Batman Begins]]'', the [[Batman]] comics never existed, and neither did [[Christian Bale]].

To what extent this is done is a subject for discussions amongst fans. Do the actors themselves not exist? Do other works the actors have appeared in exist? If they do, who starred in them? It's probably best not [[Bellisario's Maxim|to overthink]] these, but some impulsive connections are bound to occur. If taken far enough, such speculation can overlap with the [[Literary Agent Hypothesis]]. (In fact the [[Literary Agent Hypothesis]] may be the best way out of the paradox: the Tenth Doctor doesn't ''actually'' look like David Tennant any more than Erin Brockovich really looks like Julia Roberts.)

 

 

Many a show or movie trying to be hyper-realistic does its best to distill this concept to an extent by refusing to cast a [[Celebrity Star]] because he or she is not obscure enough and would be too recognizable, as it strains [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief]]. Of course, if the star ''becomes'' famous because of said work, the same issues could still pop up.

 

 

 

 

Playing with this is a form of [[Post Modernism]]. [[Actor Allusion]] can be a form of playing with this. Contrast [[Your Costume Needs Work]] and compare [[Recursive Canon]], see also [[Different World, Different Movies]].

 

Of course, in real life, there are plenty of people who closely resemble celebrities and go about their business without being mistaken for them. [[Truman Show Plot|Maybe we're all in a movie]]!

 

== Advertising ==

* The Nespresso ad campaign stars [[George Clooney]] [[As Himself]] and [[John Malkovich]] as God. The former never comments on the resemblance.

 

== Anime and Manga ==

** Probably the prime example of this is in the last episode. [[Occidental Otaku|Patty]] bribes Konata (voiced by [[Aya Hirano]]) with a ticket to a live event where she can meet... Aya Hirano

** Of course there's also an earlier episode where [[Aya Hirano|Konata]] attends the ''Suzumiya Haruhi no Gekisou'' live concert and sees Hirano on stage.

** During one of the Lucky Channel spots, [[Hot-Blooded|Anime Tenchou]] questions Akira (Hiromi Konno) on her feelings for a handful of her previous roles, for her to nonchalantly ask who those people are.

** The show also bizarrely folds in on itself in one of the later episodes where Konata, in [[Ripped from the Headlines]] fashion, finds a plaque that reads "Konata is my wife."

* A case in ''[[Detective Conan]]'' once revolved around the eponymous character and his friends meeting singer [[Minami Takayama]]. Minami happens to do the voice of Conan Edogawa, and their similar voices were pointed out by other characters. That story also appeared in the original manga.

** Not so weird, considering mangaka Gosho Aoyama was dating, and then was briefly married to, Minami.

* An episode of ''[[Akahori Gedou Hour Lovege]]'' has two of the Hokke sisters meeting their own voice actresses and then proceeding to argue about which one of them is better.

* Completely pulled off in ''[[Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu]]'', [[Meido]] Nanami Nanashiro distracts the proud [[Otaku]] Nobunaga Asakura by telling him that seiyuu Kana Ueda is nearby and proceeds to mimic her voice to make Nobunaga 'chase' the seiyuu. Of course, Kana Ueda herself ''is'' the seiyuu of Nanami.

** It comes around full circle in episode 10 where Yuuto visits a recording session for ''Nocturne''. It is heavily implied that the five seiyuu who were recording roles in ''Nocturne'' were [[Mamiko Noto]], [[Mai Goto]], [[Kaori Shimizu]], [[Kana Ueda]], and [[Rina Sato]]. Also, Asakura tells Yuuto about a certain [[Reiko Takagi]], who is in fact, Asakura's own seiyuu. Taken to [[Up to Eleven]] in the ''Nogizaka Vocabulary Essentials'' section, where the word is "Wataru Hatano," Yuuto's seiyuu.

* Done several times in the original ''[[Astro Boy (manga)|Astro Boy]]''. Once, when showing a theme park full of fictional creatures, a villain disparagingly refers to "Those creepy gourd creatures Tezuka draws," indicating that Osamu Tezuka, the creator of [[Astro Boy (manga)|Astro Boy]], ''does'' exist in their universe. Another time, a bad guy taunts the Professor by saying, "And what have you done with Astro? You've just made a stupid show of him for TV!"

* ''[[Bakuman｡]]'', which as a manga about trying to create manga is already up to its ass in [[Post Modernism]], has references to ''[[Death Note]]'' and to "the author of ''Death Note''" in the very first chapter, although the latter is not referred to by name. ''Bakuman'', of course, is created by the same writer/artist duo that created ''Death Note''.

* ''[[Shonen Jump]]'' exists in all Shonen Jump manga that are set in anything resembling the modern world. [[Dragon Ball]] even goes the [[Literary Agent Hypothesis]] route with this.

 

== Comic Books ==

** It's widely established that [[The DCU]] and [[Marvel Universe]] exist in the same... Multiverse? Megaverse? Adjacent multiverses? Same something. They met on several occasions, and the universes even merged for a while in the early 90s.

*** There's even a gag during Marvel VS. DC mini (prior to [[Amalgam Universe]]) where a man walks into a toy/novelty store, as if he'd done so regularly before the universal collide, and asked where all the "X-Men Stuff" had gone. The clerk responded, "What's X-Men?" Maquettes of two [[Pinky and The Brain|characters]] should tell you what universe in which this transpired.

*** On Earth-1, they did reveal that there's "true crime" comics based on the adventures of Earth-1's Superman, Batman, etc. (based on newspaper accounts, etc.), alongside the fictional-to-them comics about the Earth-2 Flash, Green Lantern, etc.'s adventures.

** However, at least in the [[Marvel Universe]], there is [[Canon]] evidence from comics such as ''[[She Hulk]]'' and ''The [[Fantastic Four]]'' that the exploits of the (in-universe) real live heroes are actually recorded in comics and sold to the general public. These comics (in the ''She-Hulk'' comics) are then used as evidence by lawyers defending and prosecuting super heroes and super villains. And, at least once, to save the world when all the characters had forgotten some hugely important fact or [[MacGuffin]] which they found out about by reading the comics. One wonders, though, if the comics published in-universe are the same as the [[Real Life]] ones, and the references to comics are infinitely recursive. But then one's head starts hurting.

*** The infinitely recursive references problem would only apply if heroes continued licensing their adventures to comic companies all the way up to the modern era, which they don't seem to do.

** Similarly, in the [[Ultimate Marvel]] universe, one issue of ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' involved Spidey's exploits being filmed by [[Sam Raimi]] to save money on CGI for a blockbuster movie starring Tobey Maguire.

** When Ultimate Spidey went to Raimi to ask him to stop, they just filmed him some more, making Raimi look like a gigantic tool. Very odd.

*** [[Deadpool]] himself says in one issue that he looks like "[[Ryan Reynolds]] mixed with a Shar-Pei." No sign of the Shar-Pei, but who else would get the role when the live-action movie came out?

** Also subverted in the [[Ultimate Marvel]] universe: when discussing on which actors should play the various members of the Ultimates, Nick Fury nominates [[Samuel L. Jackson]] for himself. This being an obvious meta-reference, as Marvel had based Ultimate Nick Fury's likeness on Jackson, with the agreement that they'd cast him for the movie version when the time came.

*** Superboy-Prime had a similar origin. His psychopathic behaviour in pursuit of [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|Silver Age]] values can be at least partly explained by the fact he still thinks of these people as fictional characters.

** A [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] ''Superman'' story had Clark taking Lois to the movies... where a Fleischer Brothers ''[[Superman Theatrical Cartoons]]'' cartoon was showing before the main feature. [[Hilarity Ensues]] as Clark goes to great lengths to ensure that Lois is distracted every time his on-screen counterpart changes identities. The story ends with Clark and his on-screen counterpart winking at each other, even as he wonders who [[Max and Dave Fleischer|the Fleischer Brothers]] ''are'' and how they found out all they did.

** In an issue of ''[[Batman and the Outsiders]]'', Salah programs Re-Mac with several basic forms, one of them including [[George Clooney]], which amuses Grace Choi and irritates her girlfriend Anissa. This brings up the question if the George Clooney of that universe did indeed star in ''[[Batman and Robin (film)|Batman and Robin]]'', and what Batman himself would make of that.

** The ''Top Ten'' universe plays around with this. With so many superheroes, comics about mundane people, such as accountants, are popular.

** ''[[Runaways]]'' mentions [[The DCU]] a few times, but it's implied they only exist as TV shows.

* ''[[Astro City]]'' plays with this as well. Comic book publishers can either publish stories of fictional characters like [[Batman]], or secure licensing rights and publish the exploits of real superheroes. Since the heroes are real, authors and publishers are vulnerable to libel laws, and comics are required to adhere to known facts and events.

* In his [[Donald Duck]] comic stories, [[Don Rosa]] prefers to think of [[Mickey Mouse]] and other non-Duck cartoon characters as the fictional characters within the fiction, and the Duck characters as the "real" people. This becomes weird when you take into account that Donald was also Mickey's co-star in animation.

* In a case of metafiction meets [[Real Life]], the Disney corporation sued Marvel Comics, stating that the Marvel character [[Howard the Duck (comics)|Howard the Duck]] bore too much of a resemblance to Donald Duck, and violated their trademark. Marvel then redesigned future artwork of Howard, changing his overall appearance. But most importantly, Howard would always be drawn ''wearing pants'', apparently because Donald now owned exclusive rights to all depictions of talking duck nudity! In the Marvel comic, Howard would often complain about being forced to wear pants, because he was personally sued by some undisclosed powerful corporation.

** Though with the Disney/Marvel merger, Howard can presumably go pantsless once again.

* Averted (or arguably lampshaded) in the original ''Worlds Collide'' crossover between the DCU and the [[Milestone Comics|Milestone Universe]]. The Milestone Universe has Superman comics, so when the Milestone heroes get cosmically shunted to the DCU, they know Superman's secret identity (and originally assume he's just some yutz dressed up like Superman). The more recent ''When Worlds Collide'' established that the two universes have since merged, presumably wiping out the Milestone heroes' inappropriate memories.

** However, in the 1978 Christopher Reeve film, Ned Beatty has a rolled copy of [[The Mighty Thor]] in his back pocket.

** Prior to the incorporation of the DCU in ''[[Smallville]]'', [[Lex Luthor]] was an avid collector of comic books, his favorite being a Superhero named Warrior Angel, which started out as vaguely Superman, and then evolved into the ''Smallville'' equivalent of [[Shazam|Captain Marvel]]. It was also plays with the above statement slightly: Clark might not be the first Superhero, but he has gotten the most attention.

* An issue of [[G.I. Joe]]: Special Missions has a child receiving a toy of the [[Transformers]] Jetfire. Strangely, Transformers and GI Joe shared the same continuity, and Jetfire even appeared in the GI Joe vs The Transformers miniseries.

 

* In ''Parable of a Boy Named Gregory,'' a ''[[South Park]]'' fanfic of epic length that pairs Gregory and Pip, Gregory is interviewed on Larry King Live after having escaped from the military base of North Korean invaders on American soil (don't ask); when Larry King asks him whether or not Gregory's hometown of South Park, Colorado has anything to do with the TV show "[[South Park]]," Gregory is extremely confused, never having heard of the show.

* This is often played frustratingly straight in bad fanfiction. There are countless mediocre video game fics where the characters would play games from their own series; the author usually wouldn't even bother to [[Hand Wave]] why Sonic's son was playing ''[[Sonic Adventure 2]]: Battle''.

* In a very good ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' fan-fic, "The Annals of Darkness," there are many references back to the Kingdom Hearts videogames, [[Handwaved]] by the explanation that Sora and co's adventures have become so well known that videogames have been created about them. Played with by having Sora give Max Goof advice on how to beat certain boss battles.

* Similar story in the [http://forkinsocket.livejournal.com/16841.html?thread=449737#t449737 Assassin's Creed Kink Meme] claims that the games have been made into an in-universe "Complex-Action Decoy" program meant to throw Templars off their backs. (The characters then go off into finding the [[Kink Meme]] [[Power Perversion Potential|for]] [[Fetish Fuel|the]] [[Fandom|series]]. [[Hilarity Ensues]].)

* The ''[[Tomb Raider]]'' fanfic [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3931382/1/Crown_of_Utama ''Lara Croft and the Crown of Utama''] mercilessly lampshades this trope to the point of [[Overly Long Gag]], when Alex West (who was played by [[Daniel Craig]] in the film) is compared to [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] on two occasions, but is told "but you're blond."

* A hidden bonus in one of the panels of the [[Fan Web Comic|fan comic]] ''[[Halo: A Fistful of Arrows]]'' reveals [[Bungie]] is still around in the 26th century. One wonders what their "killer app" from the Xbox was in this universe.

 

== Film ==

* In ''[[The Seven Year Itch]]'', when Richard Sherman is being questioned about who [[No Name Given|The Girl]] (played by [[Marilyn Monroe]]) is, he says, "Wouldn't you like to know! Maybe it's Marilyn Monroe!"

* Completely and utterly justified in ''[[The Grapes of Wrath]]'' film. In the book, the main character was said to look exactly like Henry Fonda, so guess who played him in the film?

* In ''[[Armageddon]]'', ''[[Pulp Fiction]]'' exists in that universe as told in a small joke. Which is odd since they both have the actors [[Bruce Willis]] and [[Steve Buscemi]] in it.

** Which is itself a bit of a [[Historical In-Joke]], since Stallone was one of the actors considered for the Terminator role.

** Also there is a moment in the movie in which the eponymous hero and the actor meets, and Schwarzenegger points out how much they resemble each other and asks him if he wants to become his body double.

** This apparently actually happened on the set, [[Throw It In|so they put it into the movie]].

** The same gag was used in ''[[Cop Out]]'', when [[Bruce Willis]]'s character, after naming the sources of several other movie quotes, failed to recognize [[Die Hard|"Yippie-ki-yay, motherfucker!"]]

** The character of Jonathan is repeatedly said to look a lot like [[Boris Karloff]], due to a recent piece of plastic surgery. In the original stage production, Karloff was, indeed, cast as Jonathan. In fact, the role was written for him.

* ''[[The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension]]'' averts this by treating the movie as a documentary of the real life of Buckaroo Banzai, who also has his life's stories printed in comic book form and uses his fan club as a spy network.

** The remade ''Ocean's Eleven'' flirted with this in one of the earliest scenes, when Danny and Rusty walk out of the club where they've been teaching celebrities to play poker. It's very odd to see Topher Grace and Joshua Jackson get mobbed by squealing fans, while [[George Clooney]] and [[Brad Pitt]] stroll by unnoticed.

* Similar to the Julia Roberts example above: as a running gag in ''[[The Cannonball Run]]'', eccentric competitor Seymour Goldfarb Jr. obsessively impersonates Roger Moore, both to attract women and to justify his use of 007-style gadgets to get an edge in the race. Goldfarb, naturally, is played by Roger Moore ... who sends up both his actual celebrity status ''and'' his past in-character behavior as [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]].

** In the film, he can only say he's "Roger Moore," since they were unable to get permission to use the name James Bond.

*** And the producers of ''[[The Cannonball Run]]'' used a [[Suspiciously Similar Song]] version of the Bond theme for the character.

** Marty's band also plays a Huey Lewis song, "The Power of Love," as their audition, a song which Huey Lewis wrote and recorded specifically for the film and which is featured prominently in the soundtrack.

** Even more of a mindscrew: Doc Brown shows up to a Huey Lewis live gig in the "Power of Love" [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOu8x1gqW3c music video], right as Huey is showing off a ''Back To The Future'' crew jacket that the band got as a gift for working on the movie.<ref>Admittedly, though, this ''might'' not be in actual BTTF canon. But still.</ref>

** Furthermore, in an episode of ''[[Back to The Future (cartoon)|Back To The Future: The Animated Series]]'', Marty sarcastically claims to be Michael J. Fox (who played Marty in the movie trilogy) -- prompting Verne to comment that there is a similarity in appearance.

* In ''[[Love Actually]]'', [[Liam Neeson]]'s character makes several jokes about having Claudia Schiffer appear and start a relationship with him. Towards the end of the movie he meets a woman named Carol... played by Claudia Schiffer.

* In ''[[Looney Tunes: Back in Action|Looney Tunes Back in Action]]'', DJ Drake (played by Brendan Fraser) claims to have been Brendan Fraser's stunt double in ''[[The Mummy Trilogy]]''. At the end of the movie, Drake runs into the real Fraser (also played by Fraser, obviously) and punches him in the face for acting like a dick.

* ''[[Rocky and Bullwinkle|Boris and Natasha]]'' had the famous bad guy couple pretending to defect in the early Post-Cold War world, where they become instant celebrities. One scene has them fleeing a party just as the host says "But Sally Kellerman wanted to meet you!" Natasha is, of course, played by Kellerman.

** Bridget interviews Colin Firth in the sequel, ''Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason''. This was filmed for [[The Film of the Book]] but ended up being a [[Deleted Scene]].

* In the novelization of the first ''[[Spider-Man (film)|Spider-Man]]'', Mary Jane has seen the movie ''[[Interview with the Vampire]]'' and was creeped out by the little girl who played Claudia. Both were played by [[Kirsten Dunst]].

** It seems Marvel Comics exists here, too: Jameson's assistant mentions [[Doctor Strange]] in the 2nd film, and Jameson claims it's already taken.

* Pretty much averted in [[Kevin Smith]]'s ''[[Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back]]'', where [[Ben Affleck]] plays the character of Holden McNeil, the same character as in the earlier ''[[Chasing Amy]]''. The movie's central conflict is that a movie is being made about the eponymous characters and they aren't being paid for it, so they start discussing who's going to star in the movie. Ben Affleck's character comments that, because it's Miramax, it's probably going to be Ben Affleck and [[Matt Damon]]. Later on, Affleck shows up again, as himself, shooting ''[[Good Will Hunting]] 2: Hunting Season'' with Damon.

*** For the hat trick, at the very end, two characters leaving a theater say that the movie they saw was "Better than ''[[Mallrats]]''," (which one of them was in) but that ''Chasing Amy'', the movie the other one was in, would never work as a movie.

** Even better is the DVD documentary where the writers talk about how for a while, they were actually considering having different actors play that universe's Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. They even considered the Wayans Brothers for it. Sadly, they chose in the end to just keep the originals.

** James Bond had been said by [[Ian Fleming]] to look like Hoagy Carmichael and David Niven. The latter got to play him in ''[[Casino Royale 1967]]''.

* ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'' includes a scene where Taggart says "I'm working for [[Mel Brooks]]!" (writer/director), who also appears in the movie, in two different roles. Other scenes also break the fourth wall, such as:

** Furthermore, when the co-pilot is removed after falling ill, he is clearly wearing goggles and a Lakers uniform, as if he was ready to hit the court the second the scene wrapped.

** Another case was when Ted was in the hospital. One of the patients thinks he's Ethel Merman. Guess who plays him.

** The "supposedly mythical" monster may have been ''the'' Gojira/Godzilla. In ''Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah'', the "Godzilla" attack in New York was mentioned and quickly dismissed as not actually being Godzilla. This "Godzilla [[In Name Only]]" appears in a later movie, CG and all, under the official name "Zilla" ...[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|And gets his ass handed to him]] [[Curb Stomp Battle|in less than five seconds]].

* Played with in ''[[Hellboy (film)|Hellboy]]'', which is based on the [[Hellboy (comics)|comics]]: the eponymous demon is actually a pretty popular myth, on par with stuff like Yeti and Bigfoot (though perhaps slightly more believed), and has comics based on him, prompting a supporting character, upon meeting him, to be surprised that his comics hero from childhood is real, and for Hellboy himself to comment that he dislikes the comics as they get his eyes wrong.

** On the other side of the canon, the graphic novel ''Lobster Johnson: The Iron Prometheus'' has articles detailing the title character's in-world media appearances, all of which were [[Adaptation Decay|highly inaccurate]] and [[So Bad It's Good]] ''at best''. One of the articles mentions that "acclaimed Mexican director [[Guillermo del Toro]]" had expressed interest in remaking the largely inexplicable Mexican films (the ones that portrayed Lobster Johnson as a [[Masked Luchador]]).

** [[Clint Eastwood]] was also in a short Italian movie in which he played a [[Lazy Husband]], while his frustrated wife attempted to get him to take her out to see ''[[A Fistful of Dollars]]''. Perhaps a legitimate artistic point?

* ''[[Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home|Star Trek IV the Voyage Home]]'' was played largely as a [[Fish Out of Temporal Water]] comedy in which the ''Enterprise'' crew goes back to [[The Present Day]] (1986). You have to wonder why they never meet anyone who has heard of ''Star Trek''.

*** However, ''Enterprise'' was also the name of several very successful and famous US Naval Vessels, so it's not ridiculous to think that a space vessel would get the same name.

*** In the Star Trek universe, the Federation flagship was named after one of the most famous historical space vehicles, the prototype space shuttle. Which makes just as much sense as the way it happened in the real world!

*** A few later ''Trek'' novels indicated that the Eugenics Wars ''was'' all the late twentieth-century conflicts. The real purpose of those wars was [[Plausible Deniability|not quite obvious]].

* In the 2009 film ''[[Star Trek (film)|Star Trek]]'', a very young [[Alternate Universe]] James Kirk listens to "Sabotage" by the [[Beastie Boys]]. In [[Real Life]], other Beastie Boys songs, written long before the film, make reference to the ''Star Trek'' universe; for example, "Intergalactic": ''Your knees'll start shaking and your fingers pop / Like a pinch on the neck from Mr. Spock.'' Presumably the "alternate Beastie Boys" lacked such inspiration.

* ''[[Final Destination]]''. It's [[Very Loosely Based on a True Story]]. Nobody remarks about the extremely similar 747 crash four years earlier.

** Tony Clifton's character on ''[[Taxi]]'' was supposed to be Louie's brother.

** DeVito's characters in the movie and ''Taxi'' were visually and dramatically distinct enough that he arguably could have still appeared as himself/Louie. The mustache alone is all the license you need.

* All the remakes of ''[[Miracle on 34th Street|Miracle On Thirty Fourth Street]]'' (there are no less than four of them, five if you count the Broadway musical) are presumably set in a world where the 1947 classic doesn't exist.

* ''[[Adaptation]]'', starring [[Meryl Streep]] and [[Nicolas Cage]], is a cross of this and [[Post Modernism]]: Cage plays screenwriter [[Charlie Kaufman]] (the film's actual playwright), who is struggling to adapt Susan Orlean's book ''The Orchid Thief'' to film (a real book and author; Orlean is played by Streep). Kaufman even visits the set of the previous film he wrote, ''[[Being John Malkovich]]''.

** And then you realize that the screenplay being written by the film's Charlie Kaufman {{spoiler|is ''the screenplay for the actual film you are watching.''}}

* Used to effect in ''[[Fight Club (film)|Fight Club]]'': There's a scene where [[Edward Norton]] and [[Helena Bonham Carter]] are talking outside a movie theatre, {{spoiler|after Norton has discovered that [[Brad Pitt]]'s character is his split personality}}. The movie playing is ''Seven Years in Tibet'', {{spoiler|a subtle reminder that Pitt's character is invisibly present in this scene}}.

** Not just that, but in a movie with Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Meat Loaf and Jared Leto, one of Tyler's speeches mentions none of those present will become "millionaires and movie gods and rock stars".

** Additionally, Colin Firth himself gets a mention.

*** That mention being that his character in ''[[Girl with a Pearl Earring]]'' was right to want to shag the titular model.

* At one point in the [[Fritz Lang]] film ''Spies'', the protagonist runs by a wall covered with posters for Lang's previous film, ''[[Metropolis]]''. So presumably, in this version of Berlin, Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou exist but aren't working on ''Spies''. Fair enough. However, nobody seems to notice that the wheelchair-bound criminal mastermind {{spoiler|or the clown he often disguises himself as}} bears an uncanny resemblance to Rudolf Klein-Rogge, who played the mad scientist Rotwang in ''Metropolis''. Oh well, foreign agents probably don't go to the movies much anyway.

* In the movie ''[[Austin Powers]] in Goldmember'', it ends adapted into a film by [[Steven Spielberg]], starring [[Tom Cruise]] as Austin, Kevin Spacey as Dr Evil, Danny Devito as Mini-Me, and [[John Travolta]] as Goldmember.

* In ''[[Blade (film)|Blade]] Trinity'', the Nightstalkers use ''[[The Tomb of Dracula]]'' to show the Daywalker who the [[Big Bad]] is. The character Blade first appeared in ''The Tomb of Dracula'' #10.

* This is done in both live-action, [[Michael Bay]]-directed ''[[Transformers (film)|Transformers]]'' films. In the first one, ''[[Armageddon]]'' is mentioned, which was also directed by Bay. Toys such as "Furby" and "My Little Pony" appear, which are manufactured by Hasbro, makers of the Transformers toys. In the second film, Sam draws on the walls of a dorm while in a trance. The first poster he scrawls on is that for ''[[Bad Boys]] II'', also directed by Bay.

* In ''[[Eagle Eye]]'', posters for ''[[Disturbia]]'' can be seen in the Circuit City store. ''Disturbia'' was the previous project directed by DJ Caruso and starring [[Shia LaBeouf]], which then begs the question why nobody noticed that Jerry looks a lot like Shia.

* In ''[[Enchanted]]'', while Prince Edward, played by James Marsden, is atop a bus in Times Square and impaling it ([[It's a Long Story]]), a billboard for ''[[Superman Returns]]'', on which Marsden appears, can be seen behind him.

** As well as a billboard for ''[[Wicked (theatre)|Wicked]]'', which stars Idina Menzel, who also has a supporting role in ''Enchanted.''

* In ''[[Ace Ventura]]: When Nature Calls'', Ace Ventura ([[Jim Carrey]]) mentioned ''[[The Shawshank Redemption]]'' in one scene. Note the fact that Bon Gunton is featured in both of these movies as different characters.

* ''[[Fanboys]]'' is probably the most gleeful celebration of this trope, featuring appearances by various ''[[Star Wars]]'' actors, Carrie Fisher as a doctor, Billy Dee Williams as Judge Reinhold, and Ray Park as a security guard. By having Star Wars actors appear as different characters in their cameos, it rips a hole in the space-time continuum and is all the more fun for it.

* In the British behind-the-scenes documentary Behind the Magic, which aired before the release of ''[[Harry Potter (film)|Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I]]'' [[Daniel Radcliffe]] mentioned that the scene set in a café was shot in a real café, with walls that were covered in posters for West End plays and musicals. He decided to add a couple more – all of which featured pictures of himself as the lead in ''[[Equus]]'' from a few years earlier.

* The character of [[Black and Nerdy|Ronald Wilkes]] in ''[[Cedar Rapids]]'' notes his fanship of "[[Insistent Terminology|the HBO program]], ''[[The Wire]]''." Wilkes' actor, Isiah Whitlock, Jr., played State Senator [[Sleazy Politician|Clay Davis]] on that show.

* This gets zig-zagged in ''[[The Smurfs (film)|The Smurfs]]''. Patrick has never heard of the Smurfs when he meets them, but a little research shows that Peyo did exist, although in this universe he claims Smurfs were mythical creatures rather than [[The Smurfs|his own inventions]]. They even find a book of Peyo comics, which turns out to be important to the plot.

* In the 2002 adaptation of ''[[The Time Machine]]'', a holographic museum tour guide in the protagonist's future knows not just about the novel and its author [[H. G. Wells]], but even sings a line from the (in real life non-existent) [[Show Within a Show|Broadway musical]]. Adding to the paradoxical madness is that the film was directed by Wells's real-life great-grandson.

* In ''[[A Goofy Movie]]'', Max and Goofy play Twenty Questions (well, more like Goofy was playing and Max was ignoring him, but nevermind), and it's revealed that Goofy was thinking of [[Walt Disney]]. So if Mr. Disney existed in this universe, then did he make any [[Goofy]] cartoons?

* [[Being John Malkovich]] plays with this trope a bit. While characters recognize Malkovich (who is playing himself) they can't seem to correctly identify what movies he was in.

 

== Literature ==

** It gets even ''more'' confusing because the ''[[Thursday Next]]'' novels as shown in the fifth ''[[Thursday Next]]'' book are actually nothing like the real-world novels; the rights were sold and the plot and characterization was thrown out the window. {{spoiler|At the very end of the fifth book, apparently one of the fictionalized Thursdays begins "rewriting" the fictional ''[[Thursday Next]]'' books and it looks like they'll end up identical to the real-world versions. Confused yet?}}

*** At one point, in Thursday's real world, she freaks out a little, because people are reading her! Then she realizes she is being dumb. After all, it's the real world. Nobody is reading her.

** And in ''[[Bones]] to Ashes'', Brennan, who has a cameo in the TN series, is shown reading a Jasper Fforde novel in an airport.

* Arguably, this can occur in literature when characters are based around real people. For example, in [[Anthony Trollope]]'s ''Palliser'' series, there are characters clearly based on real people like Gladstone and Disraeli, but on at least one occasion, the real people were referenced. Another example, is the problem of how to deal with Arthur Conan Doyle in a universe where [[Sherlock Holmes]] is a real person. A common idea is making him a [[Literary Agent Hypothesis|literary agent]], but if that was true, he likely wouldn't be as wealthy and famous in that universe as in reality.

** Another idea is to have one of his other lesser known characters have become incredibly popular.

** It's actually implied in ''[[The Tales of Beedle the Bard]]'' that Rowling is essentially a historian who wrote seven volumes on the life of the famous wizarding hero, Harry Potter.

* In one ''[[The Dark Tower]]'' book (''The Waste Lands'') Eddie Dean compares a haunted house the characters escaped to the one in Kubrick's ''[[The Shining]]''.

** King believes that the movie is different enough from his original work for it to be considered its own work. Presumably Kubrick made the movie in Eddie's world without the source material.

*** Considering his opinions on the subject, if you asked Stephen King, he might suggest that Kubrick made the movie in OUR world without the source material as well.

* Characters in some of Douglas Coupland's books have read his other books.

** It gets even more entertaining. In JPod, beyond characters referencing Douglas Coupland's books as if they existed in the JPod universe, Coupland himself appears as himself, first sitting beside the main character on a flight to China, then a few other times, before finally becoming, in a way, the antagonist of the story for the main character (as himself, not an omnipotent author figure).

** In a Hellboy/Batman/Starman team-up comic, a group of Nazis try to summon a Great Old One. When Starman says "Old One as in Lovecraft?" Hellboy responds "Hey, Lovecraft knew stuff."

** Likewise, Lovecraft is mentioned when Cthulhu makes a cameo in ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy/And Another Thing|And Another Thing]]...''.

** And in a story from [[Atomic Robo]], Lovecraft himself is the vessel through which Cthulhu begins to come into our world.

* In ''3001: The Final Odyssey'', Poole recalls an old sci-fi author who said "[[Clarke's Third Law|Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic]]."

** For years before the [[X-Men (film)|X-Men]] movies were made, it had become [[Memetic Mutation]] among fans that [[Patrick Stewart]] would be the perfect actor to play Professor Xavier.

* The ''Virgil Tibbs'' series by John Ball (which began with ''In the Heat of the Night'') used a variant of the literary agent hypothesis. In ''The Great Detectives'', edited by Otto Penzler, in which various creators of detective series contributed short articles on their creations (e.g. Chester Gould on Dick Tracy, Walter Gibson on the Shadow, etc.), John Ball took the literary agent hypothesis for his article on Virgil Tibbs. He writes "Ms. Diane Stone, secretary to Chief Robert McGowan of the Pasadena Police Department, was on the phone. "The chief has approved the release to you of the details concerning the Morales murder" she told me. He has authorized you to go ahead with it at any time, if you want to." Of course I wanted to: the unraveling of the case via the patient, intelligent investigation work of the department in general, and Virgil Tibbs in particular, would need no embellishment in the telling. As I always do in such instances, I called Virgil and suggested a meeting. Two nights later we sat down to dine together in one of Pasadena's very fine restaurants........By the time that the main course had been put down in front of us we had gone over the Morales case in detail and Virgil had filled me in on several points which had not previously been made public. As always, I agreed to publish nothing until the department had read the manuscript and had given it an official approval. This procedure helped to eliminate possible errors and also made sure that I had not unintentionally included information which was still confidential." Later Tibbs says "I have a letter from Otto Penzler" I said. Virgil nodded recognition. "The co-author with Steinbrunner of The Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection? I have a copy." "Otto has asked me for a piece about your background. How much may I tell him?" I should insert a footnote here. Virgil Tibbs is basically a quiet, self-effacing man....He has mentioned to me more than once that my accounts of some of his cases have proved somewhat embarrassing to him. However, Chief McGowan feels that these books help explain the police function to the citizenry at large and to show how modern, enlightened police departments function."

* In the [[Agatha Christie]] novel 'The Body In the Library' a young boy explains to a policeman that he is a big fan of detective fiction and has autographs from a number of leading writers, including Agatha Christie.

* ''[[The Six Million Dollar Man]]'' was based on a book written by [[Martin Caidin]]. In one of the tie-in novels, also by Caidin, Steven Austin asks a friend if she ever read the book ''Marooned'', which a friend of his wrote. She replies that she didn't, but she saw the movie based on it. ''Marooned'' was written by Caidin.

* An interesting example is Scott Ciencin's junior novel ''[[Jurassic Park]]: Flyers'', that ties in to the ''Jurassic Park III'' film. At the end of the film, a family of Pteranodons are seen flying off into the sunset. The book reveals that they have made their home at the Universal Studios theme park in Orlando, Florida. Did the Pteranodons bump into the animatronics that populate the Jurassic Park River Adventure ride? Were they confused by them? Dr Alan Grant and Eric Kirby were invited to the theme park to speak about their experiences from the movie. Did they recommend that their audience buy the DVDs of the first two movies to get up to speed?

* In ''The Clicking of Cuthbert'', a short story by [[P. G. Wodehouse|PG Wodehouse]], a Russian writer declares: "No novelists anywhere any good except me. P. G. Wodehouse and Tolstoi not bad. Not good, but not bad."

* Chuck Klosterman muses upon this trope at great length in an essay he wrote entitled [http://books.google.com/books?id=8bvFIHE0u4kC&pg=PA36&lpg=PA36&dq=chuck+klosterman+rambo+rocky&source=bl&ots=KOrWh9YnUL&sig=WZYDwvZ1mc47z9vyxAuvp2SmbUo&hl=en&ei=CvIcTp3MMIrZ0QHopdXmBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false What Happens When People Stop Being Polite]

* The novel [[Glamorama]] by [[Bret Easton Ellis]] has a [[The Cameo|cameo]] by [[American Psycho|Patrick Bateman]] at a party that one of the characters is throwing. On the list of various celebrities who are said to be attending the same party, none other then [[Christian Bale]] is on the list, who played Patrick Bateman in the film adaptation of ''American Psycho''. To be fair, Glamorama did come out a few years before that movie was released, so the author probably didn't intend for this to happen, but it's still a jarring coincidence.

* For certain definitions of celebrity: in Cassandra Clare's [[Mortal Instruments]] series, the heroine has a "Still Not King" pin. Who wrote the very secret diaries that inspired that pin in this 'verse?

== Live Action TV ==

* One episode of ''[[The A-Team]]'' introduced [[Hulk Hogan]] playing himself as an old friend of B.A. Baracus. No mention was made as to Hogan's [[Mr. T|tag-team partner]] from [[Wrestlemania]] 1.

* ''[[The Catherine Tate Show]]'' did a sketch for [[Comic Relief]] which featured [[David Tennant]] as Lauren Cooper's teacher. She frequently jokes throughout the sketch about how much he resembles [[Doctor Who|the Doctor]] ("Your house...is it [[Bigger on the Inside]]?" "D'you fancy [[Billie Piper]], sir?"). At the end, he zaps her with the Tissue Compression Eliminator, turning her into a Rose Tyler action figure.

** And adding onto the confusion, Catherine had already played Donna Noble, the Doctor's companion in the 2006 Christmas special, who came back fulltime for the 2008 series. Apparently Lauren Cooper missed ''The Runaway Bride'' and {{spoiler|was killed off}} before she could watch series 4 and notice the woman who looks just like her traveling through space with a Time Lord who looks just like her English teacher.

** And in the series finale, House mentions ''[[Dead Poets Society]]'', where a young Robert Sean Leonard (Dr. Wilson) starred. So he managed to deduce that the guy in that porno was a young Wilson but thought the guy in DPS was just a lookalike?

* Similar to above, in a Halloween episode of ''[[Castle]]'' the title character dresses up as Malcolm Reynolds, who was played by Nathan Fillion. He refers to his costume as a "space cowboy" and his daughter points out that he wore that same costume like five years ago, around the time ''Serenity'' was released.

"I '''like''' it." }}

** Also, Castle learned to speak Mandarin Chinese from "from a TV show [he] use to love."

** ''SG-1'' got even more confusing by having a guest appearance by [[Dan Castellaneta]] while ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' had a guest appearance by Richard Dean Anderson. In ''SG-1,'' Jack is a fan of ''The Simpsons'', but doesn't seem to recognise Dan, even though they specifically bond over ''The Simpsons''. In ''The Simpsons'', Anderson plays himself.

** The [[Stargate Verse]] has yet another circular dependency: with ''[[World of Warcraft]]''. Dr. Lee is a fan of the game (and curiously claimed to have a level 75 character, which was impossible at the time the episode supposedly took place)... while the Champions' Hall in ''WoW'' contains NPCs named after ''SG-1'' characters.

** Speaking of ''Star Trek'', the penultimate episode of ''[[Stargate Atlantis|Atlantis]]'' has Richard Woolsey mention that [[Star Trek]]: The Experience in Las Vegas had closed. One wonders if ''[[Star Trek: Voyager|Voyager]]'' got made in the Stargate verse, and if so, whether anyone's ever told Richard Woolsey that he looks just like the Doctor, who appeared in said ride.

* In the remake of ''[[Fantasy Island]]'', Dean Cain plays a lawyer suspected of murder. The travel agent is called to the witness box and describes the lawyer as resembling 'the guy that played [[Lois and Clark|Superman on TV]]'.

** "The Idiot's Lantern" was written by Mark Gatiss, who also appeared as the villain in "The Lazarus Experiment." Mark Gatiss is one of the leads on ''[[The League of Gentlemen (TV series)|The League of Gentlemen]]'', in which one of his characters claimed that an episode of Tom Baker-era ''Who'' was filmed in the town. Another ''League'' member, Steve Pemberton, also appeared on ''Who'' in "Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead." And [[Christopher Eccleston]] once did a guest appearance on ''League''.

** Also in ''[[Doctor Who]]'', the ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'' books exist and have been made into movies. The person playing Barty Crouch Jr. has not been revealed - although The Tenth Doctor ''is'' apparently a Harry Potter fan:

** Just to further twist the self-reference, an Episode with the 7th Doctor in the original series was set on the day the TV show actually launched, and a voice on the telly is briefly heard to say, "It is now 5:15, and its time for the new science-fiction series Do--" before it is cut off.

** In the episode "Army of Ghosts," ''[[Eastenders]]'' exists as a fictional television series. The character of Peggy Mitchell bars a ghost she presumes to be Den Watts from The Queen Vic. In the real ''[[Eastenders]]'' Watts was killed by his wife Chrissie, who is played by Tracy-Ann Oberman. Oberman played Yvonne Hartman in "Army of Ghosts."

* [[Robin Williams]] does exist, as himself, in the ''[[Mork and Mindy]]'' universe. And Mork is horrified when people think they look alike. This is actually almost believable, until Mindy mentions he's a star of "'''TV''', film, and nightclubs." Maybe Robin Williams was part of the cast of whatever TV show replaced ''Mork And Mindy'' in said universe.

* ''[[Mad About You]]'' exists in the ''[[Seinfeld]]'' universe, but characters from ''Seinfeld'' have appeared on ''[[Mad About You]]''. Some sort of ''Seinfeld'' series also exists on ''[[Mad About You]]'', but it's unclear whether the series in question is the one from [[Real Life|the real world]], starring real Jerry Seinfeld, or the fictional sitcom ''Jerry'', starring the real Jerry Seinfeld's character portraying a character named Jerry Seinfeld ([[Wild Mass Guessing|who might himself be the real Jerry Seinfeld]]).

** This is rendered even more head-numbingly dissonant by the show's sheer volume of [[Fourth Wall|sly references]], homages and [[Shout-Out|shout-outs]] to the Superman mythos ''that has yet to actually take place'', with constant winking deployment of terms that contextually shouldn't have been coined yet, like "Man of Steel," "Faster than a speeding bullet," "mild-mannered" etc. etc. They have even shown that words/concepts like "superhero" are already in common parlance, despite their actual existence not yet being known to the wider public.

**** You could argue that most examples are fairly organic; someone sees bullets bounce off Clark and calls him "a man of steel" (not "THE"), etc. We're seeing the in-universe origins of these phrases, not the common use of them.

*** The episode "Thirst" establishes Zorro as a franchise in the show's setting (a Zorro outfit is seen).

*** Another episode intimated the same situation for Luke Skywalker (who derives from Flash Gordon).

*** Batman was also a very popular character inspired by the above listed characters made by DC before they even owned Superman so it could be that Batman is the inspiration for most modern super heroes and Bruce Wayne has never appeared in ''Smallville''.

**** Actually, prior to [[Batman (TV series)|the Adam West show in the 1960's]], Bruce Wayne did not stand as especially well-known.

*** Odder still, in the Marvel continuity both Marvel Comics ''and'' DC Comics exist. You have to wonder what superheroes they manage to write about without Tony Stark suing the pants off of them.

*** The old 50's B-movies may have still managed to exist in-universe, along with older Golden Age titles; these would provide a basis for the super-powered mutant meme.

** Kaito Nakamura could well also be a fan- his car's number plate reads ''NCC-1701''.

** Hiro must wonder occasionally about Sylar's uncanny resemblance to the new Spock...

** This becomes even ''more'' confusing when you think about how many other actors were in both shows.

** Be glad that the guy who played Josh wasn't in that episode.

** In a non-Janitor related example, the cast of ''Scrubs'' frequently make references to ''[[Friends]]'', including repeated comparisons of J.D. and Elliot to Ross and Rachel, but don't recognize Matthew Perry when he makes his cameo, or even Courtney Cox who becomes a recurring character.

** ''Scrubs'' also shares a universe with ''[[Cougar Town]]'', as shown with Ted Buckland appearing in an episode, but Zach Braff also exists in the universe. Also, Courtney Cox plays a role in both shows, yet Ted didn't even notice how much Jules looked like Dr. Maddox. Also, Christa Miller plays both Jordan on ''Scrubs'' and Ellie on ''Cougartown''.

*** The mindscrew continues at the end of a season 2 episode when Sam Llyod (as Ted Bunkland) is commenting on how much Sarah Chalke (as Angie) and Christa Miller (as Ellie) resemble people from his old job. Cue Bob Clendnin (Tom/Dr Zeltzer) popping in the window. Ken Jenkins (Chick/Dr Kelso) wanders in, causing Ted to attempt to run through a glass door. Zach Braff asks him if he ordered a pizza, and Rob Maschio offered him an "are you ok?" five.

* In one episode of ''[[The Honeymooners]]'', Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton meet Jackie Gleason and Art Carney. This was done by alternating the actors and their roles: Ed meets Gleason just as Ralph is conveniently absent, while Ralph meets Carney while Ed is out.

* In ''[[Friends]],'' Ross, Joey, and Chandler are die-hard fans of ''[[Die Hard]].'' However, when they meet Paul Stevens (played by [[Bruce Willis]]), he doesn't seem to remind them of anyone.

** ''[[Jurassic Park]]'' is mentioned quite a few times, due to Ross being a paleontologist, yet [[Jeff Goldblum]] shows up as a guest in one episode, also not playing himself.

** In the second season episode "The One Where Dr. Ramoray Dies", Chandler mentions an ex-girlfriend who thought that 'Sean Penn' was the capital of Cambodia. Sean Penn appeared in two episodes of the eighth season, playing neither himself nor the capital of Cambodia.

** Well, it would be hard for them to appear as themselves since they are kind of too old for the part.

* The [[Disney Channel]] appears to enjoy playing with this trope. In an episode of ''[[The Suite Life of Zack and Cody]]'', Maddie (played by [[Ashley Tisdale]]) auditions for the part of Sharpay in ''[[High School Musical]]'' (who was also played by Ashley Tisdale). She claims all her friends say she looks the part, but no one else sees it.

* [[Veronica Mars]] is said to get nightmares when she watches [[Paris Hilton]] movies. Quite understandable, as there was a girl at her school played by Paris Hilton.

** She also once snarked at her friend Wallace by asking which Gilmore girl he was, even though ''[[Gilmore Girls]]'' came on right before ''Veronica Mars'' on the CW that season. One wonders what show filled that slot in Veronica's world.

* The main character in ''[[The Naked Truth (TV series)|The Naked Truth]]'' could only remember that David Duchovny's wife was "that goofy blonde sitcom bimbo"... whom we know as Téa Leoni.

* Likewise, an episode of ''[[Quantum Leap]]'' features an heiress played by Brooke Shields, whose resemblance to herself causes no comment from Sam or Al. Then again, in this case it may be a [[Justified Trope]] because Sam is amnesiac and the show takes place in a timeline which is (at least at first) significantly different from ours.

** In one episode, Liz and Tracy argue about Wayne Brady. A few episodes later, Wayne Brady appeared on the show as a character.

** In an early episode, Jack mentions watching ''[[Friends]]'' and asks about Ross and Rachel. Both David Schwimmer ("Ross") and [[Jennifer Aniston]] ("Rachel") later guest starred. And in an episode after Aniston's appearance, Jenna mentioned her (the actress, not the character).

** Not to mention the fact that Alec Baldwin once guest starred in an episode of ''[[Friends]]'' as an almost fourth wall breaking character. Constantly commenting on the characters almost as if he watched them on TV...

** [http://www.myspace.com/lizlemonfans This] MySpace page someone created for Liz Lemon lists Tina Fey as one of Liz's heroes.

** Then there was the episode with [[Adam Westing|George Takei...]]

*** In that same episode, Mary sees someone [[Cosplay]] as one of the [[Coneheads]] at a [[Science Fiction|SciFi]] [[Fan Convention|convention]] and gets big smile on her face.

* In a ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' sketch from the 2008 U.S. election with [[Tina Fey]] playing [[Sarah Palin]], [[Hillary Rodham Clinton]] mocks her "Tina Fey glasses."

** Proving that Tina Fey exists in the same universe as Sarah Palin.

** Similarly, Jack says, "Me digs Taye Diggs," in one episode. When Grace later [[Citizenship Marriage|married]] Will's boyfriend James, Jack never noted the resemblance.

** On the other hand, when he meets Cher, he initially assumes she's a drag queen dressed as Cher.

* ''[[Monk]]'': In the season one finale, Tim Daly makes an appearance as himself. Sharona mentions that he was in the show ''[[Wings (TV series)|Wings]]''. So who plays Antonio in ''Monk'' land? If it's [[Tony Shalhoub]], Monk must be pretty sick of people telling him how much he looks like Antonio.

** This same logic could be assumed. If [[Silence of the Lambs]] exists in ''Monk'' land, I wonder how often people tell Captain Stottlemeyer that he sounds and looks like Buffalo Bill.

* ''[[Flight of the Conchords]]'' is set in a world where ''[[The Lord of the Rings (film)|The Lord of the Rings]]'' movies were made and filmed in New Zealand, but nobody mentions the fact that Brett McKenzie looks alarmingly like [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF57D0_VV_k one of the elves].

** Although Bret wasn't in the film for very long, and given the nature of the Conchords characters, it's entirely possible that no-one thinks it worthy of comment.

** An inverted example is John McEnroe playing himself and Jimmy Nelson, who is a McEnroe look-alike.

* Apparently, the American version of ''[[Life On Mars]]'' is {{spoiler|an astronaut going to Mars, thinking of the song "Life on Mars," picturing himself in an American version of ''[[Life On Mars]]''}}. [[Or Was It a Dream?]]? (Yeah.)

** Almost every character in the series was [[The Danza]], playing a character of the same name as the actor, so one ''might'' suppose that the character and the actor were meant to be the same person. Ironically, Martika was one of the few characters who ''wasn't'' (her character was named Gloria).

** Bonus point in that said cover was performed by Stacy Ferguson, who by the 1989 season was the last cast member left who had worked with her.

* An inversion exists in ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]''. In the continuity of the show, a series of ''novels'' exists starring the Winchester brothers (the author is a confused {{spoiler|prophet}}). [[Fandom Nod|And yes, there is internet slashfic.]]

** Sam and Dean are taking a movie studio tour at the beginning of season 2's "Hollywood Babylon." When the tour guide mentions that the next stop is the set for ''[[Gilmore Girls]]'', Sam looks uncomfortable and hops off the tram. No one on the tour seems to notice that the guy who just jumped off looks ''exactly'' like Rory Gilmore's first- and second-season boyfriend, Dean Forester (who was also played by Jared Padalecki).

** An even more odd inversion occurs in season six, in an episode where the Winchesters are cast into a parallel universe where the actors who play them do exist, but Supernatural is a TV show and the Winchesters are fictional characters. [[Hilarity Ensues]], at least until {{spoiler|a [[Light Is Not Good|douchebag]] [[Our Angels Are Different|angel]] follows them and proceeds to start killing the cast and crew.}}

*** To further add to the confusion, during the initial airing of this episode, Misha Collins tweeted the exact same things that he tweets in the episode, at the exact same time.

** Also, the guy who played the aforementioned delusional is Clint Howard (brother of [[Ron Howard]]), who appeared in the episodes "[[Star Trek: The Original Series|The Corbomite Maneuver]]", "[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Past Tense, Part II]]", and "[[Star Trek: Enterprise|Acquisition]]".

* ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' plays with it. {{spoiler|The plot of ''Back to Earth'' has Rimmer, Kryten and Cat encounter [[Craig Charles]] (Lister) on the set of ''[[Coronation Street]]''. Of course, Craig assumes it's a joke and that they're simply his fellow actors -- until ''Lister'' arrives.}} And it's explained at the end -- {{spoiler|they were in a false reality where ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' is fiction}}.

* In ''There Is No [[Carry On]] In [[Eastenders]]'', Chris Moyles discusses the many, many things that can't exist in the ''[[Eastenders]]'' universe because of this trope, which may go some way to explaining why the series is such a [[Crapsack World]].

** On the same subject: in reference to the quote on the Quote Page, British soaps tend to throw another soap in the slot where they should be in real life; i.e. the soap that goes out every weekday at 7pm in the ''[[Emmerdale]]'' universe is called ''Castle Bridge''.

*** On the other hand, anyone watching TV in ''[[Eastenders]]'' always seems to be watching a comedy, a documentary, a movie... anything ''but'' a soap opera.

**** Except in one instance where long-standing character Dot Cotton announced that she never misses rival soap opera [[Coronation Street]]. This was a friendly nod to the fact that Coronation Street was celebrating its fiftieth anniversary.

** The show also had a reference to Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin, yet it has a fictional president in the same episode. So the 2008 election was exactly the same but with some random white guy winning instead of Obama?

* Played with in ''[[Sonny With a Chance]]'' where Sonny ([[Demi Lovato]]) meets Selena Gomez, as Selena Gomez, who apparently no longer has a BFF named Demi Lovato, or if she does probably would have mentioned "Hey, my BFF looks so exactly like you it's uncanny." At the end, they tease the idea that Sonny would become Selena's new BFF. It was a very strange episode.

* ''[[Leverage]]'' is full to brimming with ''[[Star Trek]]'', up to and including guest stars: [[Star Trek: Voyager|Jeri Ryan]], [[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Brent Spiner]], [[Wil Wheaton]], and [[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Armin Shimerman]] have all shown up. Wheaton's character even has the in-universe nickname of The Kobayashi Maru! But hardcore fanboy and Trekkie [[The Smart Guy|Hardison]] [[Irony|notices nothing]].

** Chaos (played by Wil Wheaton) once asks Hardison to get Sophie to dress up as Counselor Troi.

** Intern-of-the-week Fisher mentions that he's a ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]] fan, without mentioning how much Booth looks like [[Angel]].

** In the episode "The Gamer in the Grease," three of the lab techs take turns camping out for the premiere of ''[[Avatar (film)|Avatar]]'', a movie starring Joel David Moore, who also plays Fisher. Must be intentionally invoked, because Moore is only occasionally a guest star on the show, and he appears in this episode.

** In one episode, Tony remarks that he has "a better chance of hooking up with [[Jessica Alba]]" than some criminals have infiltrating someplace. One wonders if Tony is aware of an actor that looks just like him named Michael Weatherly, who was once engaged to Ms. Alba (and was her co-star on ''[[Dark Angel]]'').

** Tony's movie references cause all kinds of Celebrity Paradoxes after the fact. He directly referenced ''[[True Lies]]'' in the season 7 opener, yet [[Jamie Lee Curtis]] has a recurring role as Samantha Ryan starting in season 9.

* Several examples in the ''[[Law and Order]]'' franchise:

** In the ''[[Law & Order|Law and Order]]'' episode "Turnaround," involving the murder of a studio executive, Briscoe mentions movie star Julia Roberts. The actress would guest star two years later as Katrina Ludlow in the episode "Empire." Unlike ''Ocean's Twelve'', however, no one seems to notice the resemblance.

** ''[[Law & Order|Law and Order]]'' characters have frequently referenced the O.J. Simpson trial, despite having an earlyish episode that plays off it (which itself got a sequel years after during the "If I did it" period). No one has mentioned ''Capricorn One'', which co-starred an actor who looked a lot like a younger Jack McCoy.

* Larry Miller appeared as himself on ''[[Law & Order|Law and Order]]'' in 2003. Detective Briscoe never mentioned Miller's resemblance to comedy club owner Michael Dobson, whom Briscoe arrested for murder twice.

* ''[[Chuck]]'' features a very prominent ''[[Tron]]'' poster in the main character's bedroom. It also features Bruce Boxleitner as "Woody" Woodcomb, father of one of the main cast. The poster is the real thing, with Boxleitner listed as the star, but nobody ever brings it up.

** In one episode, Sarah and Chuck are watching Spies Like Us and Chuck specifically mentions [[Dan Aykroyd]] and Chevy Chase, he failed to notice that Chevy Chase looks a lot like season two villain, Ted Roark.

** Chuck mentions ''[[Die Hard]]'' in a season four episode, though a season two episode had previously featured Reginald [[Vel Johnson]] as Sgt. Al Powell. Not a similar character. Sgt. Al Powell.

** Now, if only Rush had called the killer "Asshole"...

** A bit of ''[[The Breakfast Club]]'' confusion. Some kids watch the movie in an early season two episode and a character mentions it by name in season three, yet Paul Gleason appeared as a character in another season three episode.

*** Bialik has since become a series regular, playing Sheldon's [[She Is Not My Girlfriend|friend who is a girl]].

* ''[[Thirtysomething]]'', in its final season, featured a copy of John Updike's ''Rabbit at Rest'' as stage dressing. Guess what show the characters in ''Rabbit at Rest'' watch frequently.

* Most of the cast members of ''[[Growing Pains (TV)|Growing Pains]]'' haven't had much of a career afterwards. Alan Thicke's career consists mostly of playing himself, and Kirk Cameron has gone on to Christian Fundie work. [[Leonardo DiCaprio]], however, has fared much better, which may be why he wasn't in the [[Reunion Show|reunion movie]]. In the movie, the characters make reference to the missing Leonardo.

** Also, celebrity guest stars fall in various sides of this trope. A few appear as themselves, making this a non-issue (Kevin Smith, Jay Manuel), but others appeared as random extras (Billy Ray Cyrus, Colin Mochrie). Nobody comments on how familiar they look.

* Both ''[[Mad Men]]'' and ''[[Community]]'' feature Alison Brie. When her character in the latter, Annie, offered to help her classmate Abed practice flirting, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q9er_rU2ro he suddenly became immensely suave].

'''Abed:''' Don Draper from ''Mad Men''. What did you think? }}

** In the ''Community'' episode "Contemporary Impressionists", French Stewart plays a French Stewart impersonator.

* In the new ''[[Hawaii Five-O]]'', Steve and Danny are watching ''[[CHiPs]]'', comparing their lives to Erik Estrada's and Larry Wilcox's characters. Apparently they never watched ''Hawaii Five-O'' when they were younger. They should avoid Kahala Mall, where there is a sculpture of Jack Lord.

** The new ''Hawaii Five-O'' also [[Crossover|crossed over]] with ''[[NCIS: Los Angeles]]''. NCIS:LA takes place in the same universe as regular ''[[NCIS]]'', which referenced the ''original'' Five-O in the 2009 episode "Power Down." Meaning that there's a Five-O squad with a Danno in a universe with a classic TV show that has the very same things.

'''DiNozzo''': Nice ''Hawaii Five-O'' reference, boss. }}

* In ''[[Absolutely Fabulous]]'' both Joanna Lumley and Patsy Stone were minor Bond Girls. It remains unknown whether or not they were the same minor bond girl.

* In the second season finale of Raising Hope, the characters watch a fictional news show called Inside Probe, detailing the circumstances surrounding Jimmy meeting, impregnating, marrying, and turning in Hope's serial killer mother. During one of the commercial breaks, an ad for the real TV show My Name is Earl is shown. My Name is Earl and Raising Hope were both created by Greg Garcia, and several characters from Earl appear as recurring characters or guest stars on Raising Hope.

* A [[Deleted Scene]] from [[The Thick of It]] reveals Peter Mannion MP's wife's dowdy appearance has been mocked on [[Have I Got News for You]]. A number of actors from [[The Thick of It]] have appeared in episodes of [[Have I Got News for You]], including Rebecca Front (Nicola Murray MP) Chris Addison (Olly Reader) and Miles Jupp (John Duggan). Presumably those episodes in [[The Verse]] feature a different array of comedians cracking jokes about the politicians of [[The Thick of It]].

 

== Magazines ==

* ''[[Mad]]'' also did these kinds of gags, such as in their 1982 parody ''Awful Annie'', when "Daddy Morebucks" takes Annie to the movies. True, this was a direct reference to a scene in the actual movie being parodied, but here the characters [[Lampshade Hanging|constantly call attention]] [[No Fourth Wall|to the fact that they are fictional]]. ("We'll go from this movie to another movie!" declares Morebucks.)

 

 

== Professional Wrestling ==

* A [[TNA]] skit involved [[Kevin Nash]] figuring out new nicknames for Jay Lethal. He pitched names like "Vinnie Vegas" and "Oz" which were gimmicks Nash played in [[WCW]] at the start of his career. He openly acknowledged this while trying to figure out a gimmick for Sonjay Dutt. ("I wrestled two matches in that one year and earned six figures!")

* [[Adam Sandler]] appeared in the audience at ''WrestleMania 21'' to see [[The Big Show]] wrestle. [[The Waterboy|I wonder if Sandler asked him for a job again afterward....]]

* And here's something to ''truly'' ponder: Sergeant Slaughter is both a "real" wrestler character and a fictional character in the ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' cartoon series. Wait....does that mean that the characters in ''G. I. Joe''....actually exist? (And if ''that's'' true, why did they look radically different in the 1980s than in the 1960s? Were there some ultra-secret Cold War projects that the Pentagon didn't tell us about?)

* ''[[Title of Show]]''. A musical about writing a musical about writing a musical, the musical they're writing being ''[title of show]''. The main characters are all played by themselves, and the musical debuted at the theater festival the characters discuss debuting the musical at. Needless to say, there is a very small window in which this musical works as well as it was intended to.

** Which definitely passed by the time the play was performed by the Arizona Theatre Company.

* In ''[[Don Giovanni]]'' by composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and librettist Lorenzo da Ponte, Don Giovanni and his servant Leporello divert themselves by singing snippets of opera, first an aria from ''Una cosa rara'' by Vincenzo Martini, a colleague of Mozart's who frequently collaborated with da Ponte, then one from ''Fra i due littiganti'' by Sarti, and finally ''Non più andrai'' from ''The Marriage of Figaro'' by Mozart and da Ponte, at which Leporello notes that the tune sounds very familiar. It is believed that this was part also a nod to the audience in Prague (where ''Don Giovanni'' was first performed), because in Prague unlike Vienna the ''Marriage'' had been a huge success.

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[Brütal Legend|Brutal Legend]]'', oh so hard. [[Ozzy Osbourne]], [[Motorhead|Lemmy Kilmister]], [[The Runaways|Lita Ford]], and [[Judas Priest|Rob Halford]] show up in the game, [[Ink Suit Actor|are IDENTICAL to their real-life appearance]], and they're not recognized as such by metal uberfan Eddie Riggs.

*** It's possible Emma's poster isn't an example; after ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'', an account of the Shadow Moses incident is made public and denied by the government. The denial is rather flimsy, because Metal Gear REX's blueprints are sold all over the world, so everyone knows the "walking tank" part of the story is true, at least. As a result, Solid Snake becomes a figure in popular culture with many different ideas of what he's really like, or if maybe the government is telling the truth and "Solid Snake" is just a myth playing up on the exploits of real, but normal, military special forces. ''Ghost Babel'' could exist in-universe as a movie or videogame depicting one particular idea of what a Solid Snake adventure would be like if he is, indeed, real.

* ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' loves to play with its [[Hey, It's That Voice!]] casting like this, with characters mentioning other characters' similar voices, and even making [[Shout-Out|Shout Outs]].

** A radio DJ in ''Vice City Stories'' explicitly mentions New York at one point.

** Lampshaded in a [[Something Awful]] Forum ''[[Let's Play]]'' of ''San Andreas'', when the narrator and his friend note [[Snoop Dogg]]'s rapping about "Compton" is obviously a disguised version of the game's "Ganton." And there's a [[Moral Guardians|Jack Thompson]] [[Expy]] who thinks that rap music encourages people to violence.

* ''[[Rainbow Six]]: Vegas'' had a few ''[[Splinter Cell]]'' arcade machines in it. However, Third Echelon is mentioned as having gathered intelligence for one mission, so ''Splinter Cell'' is probably canon within the R6 universe.

** Maybe Third Echelon or someone else had the games commissioned in that universe so that any reports of the real Third Echelon would be dismissed as made by game obsessed nuts?

* In ''[[Saints Row 2]]'', it is mentioned that the character Benjamin King from the first game has written an autobiography, which will be made into a movie where King will be played by his real-life voice actor.

 

 

****** [http://www.mezzacotta.net/postcard/?comic=121 Postcard] (from ''[[Mezzacotta|Comments on a Postcard]]'')

*** Of course the [http://www.darthsanddroids.net/sandalsandspartans/0050.html 300], [http://www.darthsanddroids.net/avatars/0050.html Avatar] and [http://darthsanddroids.net/heists/0050.html Inception] ones, being based on recent movies, are more forced/less accurate than the previous ones (''Avatar's'' nonexistence led to ''[[Titanic]]'' not existing?).

* [http://dizzy.pestermom.com/?p=thcomic59 This page] of the fancomic ''[[Touhou Nekokayou]]'' describes a world without ''[[Touhou]]'' like ''[[Darths and Droids]]'' did. The author often silently adds more examples to the list ...

* David Willis makes occasional appearances in [[Shortpacked]] and has an ongoing rivalry with Ethan regarding the Transformers Wiki. He even rented out the store to propose to his girlfriend.

 

== Web Original ==

** In the TGWTG Team Brawl special, the Nostalgia Critic and [[Bum Reviews|Chester A. Bum]] {{spoiler|are both in the fight}}, and then "Ask That Guy" comes in near the end {{spoiler|and gives the entire brawling mass a lecture about misdirected creative energies}}, and proceeds to take a group photo.

** And this was also lampshaded when the three characters all explained how they ended up shaving their beards at the same time.

* [[New York Magician]]: Discussed when Michel meets {{spoiler|Cthulhu.}} He's sitting in a bar later on, more than a little disturbed, and points out to the {{spoiler|djinn}} he's discussing the incident with that said Elder is supposed to be fictional. The {{spoiler|djinn's}} response is basically "That doesn't mean he isn't real."

* In [[The Angry Video Game Nerd]] fan game ''AVGN: Game Over'', there's a level based on ''[[Castlevania II: Simon's Quest|Castlevania II Simons Quest]]'' called James' Quest (referring to [[James Rolfe]], who plays the Nerd). AVGN comments "Who's James?"

 

 

** So's [[Frank Welker]].

** In "Silence of the Clamps" the crew finds a robot who claims that his name is [[Billy West]]. Fry calls it a "stupid, made-up name".

** This raises the question of who the secret identity of the fictional Spider-Man in that universe is, unless Parker is using [[The Danza]].

*** The actor was never said to be Peter Parker and his face was never revealed. For all we know, he could be alternate universe Tobey Maguire.

* In the ''[[South Park]]'' episode "Passion of the Jew," Stan and Kenny want to get their money back from [[Mel Gibson]] just as they did from ''[[Baseketball]]'', starring [[Self-Deprecation|Matt Stone and Trey Parker]].

* The ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'' episode "Buster And Babs Go Hawaiian" had a brief visual gag involving [[Robin Williams]] as [[Peter Pan]] in ''[[Hook]]''. The very next episode ("Henny Youngman Day") featured Robin's [[Funny Animal]] [[No Celebrities Were Harmed|counterpart]], Robin Killems. Not that big a paradox, though, considering [[Rule of Funny|the nature of the show]].

* An ''[[Animaniacs]]'' spoof of ''[[Beauty and the Beast]]'' cast the Tasmanian Devil as Beast. In a gag similar to the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scene in ''[[Airplane!]]'', the Warners recognize him and ask him to do "that thing he does," besides Beast vehemently insisting that "me not Taz."

* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'':

** [[Danny Elfman]]'s jaunty "Simpsons" theme has been heard as diegetic (in-universe) background music on the show. Hilariously, when Simpson family members hear the music, they don't realize it's about them!

* In one episode of ''[[Men in Black (animation)|Men in Black]]: The Animated Series'', the worms write a [[Men in Black (film)|movie treatment for MiB]] which gets produced, starring [[Will Smith]] and [[Tommy Lee Jones]]... and the CGI version of the worms who look more like the [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]] than their actual selves. J complains that Will Smith looks nothing like himself.

'''J:''' So THAT'S why they keep making the same movies over and over! }}

* ''[[Ghostbusters]]'' is a fictionalization of real events in the world of ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]]''.

* Winked at in ''[[The Boondocks]]'' episode "Or Die Trying", which starts off with a trailer for [[Show Within a Show|Soul Plane 2: The Blackjacking]]. Among the numerous celebrities noted to star in it is John Witherspoon, Robert's voice actor.

** Additionally, John Witherspoon actually ''plays Robert'' in an in-series music video, "Eff Granddad." Robert's comment: "That's the dude from [[Friday (film)|Friday]]!" Robert [[Actor Allusion|also mentions Friday]] many other times throughout the series, once referring to it as his favorite movie.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Characters and Casting]]

[[Category:Metafiction Demanded This Index]]

[[Category:Consistency]]

[[Category:Omnipresent Tropes]]