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|'''Chuck Klosterman'''}}
A '''Celebrity Paradox''' describes the complications that arise from creating a fictional universe in which that fictional universe does not exist, and the actors playing roles within it do not exist either.
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]].
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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.
Note that, in [[Animated Series]] and [[Anime]], the
Certain [[Setting Update]]s can face a similar problem: they have to be set in a world where no one will recognize the name of [[Sherlock Holmes]], [[Superman]], or [[Macbeth]], but are otherwise culturally identical, or the tropes that they've since made popular, but is otherwise just like the real world. Again, it's best to just not think about it.
The answer usually gone with is the simplest one—things went the same way, but in place of the actor or show that could not exist, it was a ''very similar'' actor or show. This actually appears in ''[[Last Action Hero]]'', as the image above shows. Jeri Ryan probably moved to Hollywood because she got cast in ''[[Battlestar Galactica
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]].
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* 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.
** The series has had crossovers with [[Lupin III]]. Movie 11 establishes that Sato-san is a fan of Lupin III and is therefore upset when a criminal wears a Lupin III mask. Given that she is a police officer and would not be a fan of a real thief, this would only make sense if Lupin III is a fictional character.
* 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.
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** 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.
* The first scene of ''[[Tango and Cash]]'' has Tango reply to a uniformed officer's claim that Tango "thinks he's Rambo" with "[https://web.archive.org/web/20140312122515/http://www.agonybooth.com/agonizer/Tango___Cash_1989.aspx Rambo is a pussy.]" Guess who plays Tango.
* ''[[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.''}}
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* ''[[The Beastmaster|Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time]]'' shows what happens when you [[Averted Trope|avert]] this trope. The eponymous Beastmaster, Dar, winds up in 1990's America, and as the car he's in is driving down a street, he sees a movie theater showing that they're playing ''Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time.'' Dar looks as confused as the audience is. It's ''bizarre.''
* A rather funny nod is made at the beginning of ''[[About a Boy]]'', when its young protagonist Marcus wishes in voiceover that he was “as rich as Haley Joel Osment from ''[[The Sixth Sense]]''” so that he could afford a private tutor and avoid having to go to school where he’s being bullied. Marcus’ mother Fiona in ''About A Boy'' is played by Toni Collette…who also played Haley Joel’s mother three years earlier in ''The Sixth Sense''.
* In the British behind-the-scenes documentary Behind the Magic, which aired before the release of ''[[
* 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.
* An interesting version arises when you note that ''[[The Breakfast Club]]'' and ''[[Sixteen Candles]]'' take place in [[The Verse|the same universe]]—indeed, the same ''school''—and both prominently star [[Molly Ringwald]] as two completely different characters. One wonders how two girls who look exactly the same could run in completely different social circles and never be mistaken for each other.
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== 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.
** Another episode that took place at Universal Studios shows Face doing a double take as a [[Battlestar Galactica
* ''[[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.
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*** 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.
** An odd corollary to the fact that [[DC Comics]] don't exist in the ''Smallville'' universe is the fact that, apparently, [[Marvel Comics]] don't exist either.
*** 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.
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*** 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 [[Pilot]] for ''[[FlashForward]]'' shows a billboard for Oceanic
** 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?
** "Oceanic Airlines" is a longstanding [[Metasyntactic Variable]], dating back [[Older Than They Think|at least to the mid-1960s]]. One might as well wonder whether ''FlashForward'' is in the same universe as ''[[Flipper]]'' or ''[[Executive Decision]]''.
* 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]].
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* 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.
** Also, [[Battlestar Galactica
** 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.
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** 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.
* ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'' has cameos by [[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Wil Wheaton]], [[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Brent Spiner]], [[Star Trek: The Original Series|George Takei]], [[Battlestar Galactica
** We're treated to an interesting take of this in the [[Summer Glau]] episode. Sheldon speculates that if Skynet were real, then the best strategy would be for them to copy and impersonate actors who have played Terminators on film.
** In one episode in season 1, the characters have a discussion about how [[Mayim Bialik]] and [[Danica McKellar]] are serious academics as well as actresses. It would've been weird enough if just one of them had shown up later in the series, but ''both'' actresses would end up playing fictional guest parts in season 3.
*** Bialik has since become a series regular, playing Sheldon's [[She Is Not My Girlfriend|friend who is a girl]].
*** Raj also mentions "the girl who played TV's
* ''[[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.
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== Professional Wrestling ==
* In an angle where [[Shawn Michaels]] retires from [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]] to work in a cafeteria, he uses the pseudonym "Hickenbottom" to avoid attention. [[Triple H]] goes on to make fun of the name. Michaels's real name is Michael Shawn Hickenbottom.
* 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!")
* As certain wrestling skits over the past quarter-century have established, the characters of [[The Naked Gun|Frank Drebin]], [[RoboCop|Alex J. Murphy]], and [[Child's Play (film)|Charles Lee Ray]] all exist as their fictional selves....which gets freakin' weird once you remember that the wrestlers exist in our world as well as their fantasy one, not to mention that [[Bill Clinton]] and [[Barack Obama]] have appeared as well (as lookalike actors playing them, of course). Granted, Robocop and Chuckie were established in [[WCW]], and may or may not be canon to [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]], but considering that [[WCW]] was meant to be in the real world as well... ow, I think I just pulled my brain.
* Also, Tiger Woods is apparently an ''[[Literal-Minded|actual tiger]]''.
* [[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....]]
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*** 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?).
** Although its [[Spiritual Successor|spiritual predecessor]] ''[[DM of the Rings]]'' never explicitly referenced this trope, [[Fridge Logic]] leads one to wonder how ''[[Dungeons & Dragons|D&D]]'' became popular in a world without ''[[The Lord of the Rings]].''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060508212305/http://frakkingtoasters.com/index.cgi?date=20060106 This] ''Frakking Toasters'' strip has the cast of
* [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.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Characters and Casting]]
[[Category:Metafiction Demanded This Index]]
[[Category:Consistency]]
[[Category:Omnipresent Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Celebrity Paradox]]
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