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Show Within a Show: Difference between revisions
"comics"->"comic books" *and* split "comics" into "comic books" and "newspaper comics", spelling, italics on work names, other markup
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{{trope}}
[[File:allmycircuts 3173.png|link=Futurama|
A fictional show that takes place within an actual show; or, occasionally, a fictional installment or incarnation of an actual show.
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{{examples}}
== Examples of type 1 (characters involved in production) ==
=== Anime
* [[Tsurupika Hagemaru Kun]] has this. Ever seen the best of 10?
* ''[[The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'': Haruhi and her subordinates film a [[Magical Girl]] movie for the [[School Festival]] with Mikuru and Yuki as the heroine and villain, respectively.
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* The ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'' movie, ''[[Gundam 00: Awakening of the Trailblazer|Gundam 00 a Wakening of The Trailblazer]]'', features a film based on the publicly-known exploits of Celestial Being in years past. As is par for the course, it is grossly inaccurate and features a number of anime and Hollywood cliches.
* In what is likely a [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[Lucky Star]]'', a few episodes of ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei]]'' have the characters taking comments from viewers and behaving like actors/tv presenters. In one instance, it's referred to as "Zetsubou Channel".
* From ''[[Cromartie High School]]'' we are introduced to Pootan, a show that makes less sense than the characters who watch it.
* One of the extras from ''[[Black Butler]]'' involves the cast putting on a production of Hamlet as a charity event for children. At least that is the play they intended to perform.
* ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'' has HeroTV, a combination news-[[Reality TV]] show that focuses on the exploits of Sternbild's various corporate-sponsored [[superhero]]es.
* ''[[Heartcatch Precure]]'' has Tsubomi and Erika discover the ''banchou''-type character Ban is making manga. Manga of ''them''. They give him a hand in completing the pages he'd drawn and even help him finish the story he was stuck on by acting out an ending. It's also a Type 3, as Ban's afraid to reveal this to his mother, who grew up without manga and felt that if she knew, she'd hate him.
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* ''[[Waiting in the Summer]]'' is based around the extremely amateur movie the main characters are working on. It also has some elements of [[Plot Parallel]] ({{spoiler|Ichika is a recently-arrived alien in both}}).
===
* Johnny C., the crazy main character of ''[[Johnny the Homicidal Maniac]]'', draws a comic book that is the next "level" of insanity: ''[[Talkative Loons|Happy Noodle Boy]]''.
* The ''[[Captain Underpants]]'' books frequently feature comics based on the title character created by George Beard and Harold Hutchins. Almost every book begins with George and Harold presenting a comic providing exposition on the series up to that point. The ''Super Diaper Baby'' spinoff books have the ''entire books'' in the same comic format.
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** It's a complete film-within-a-film made by [[Joe Dante]] of ''[[Gremlins]]'' fame. See it [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y2Lbhwl23M here] and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT8hzyE_CRI here].
* The film version of ''[[Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead]]'' has the Players acting out ''Hamlet'' for the title characters, while acting out ''The Murder of Gonzago'' with puppets who are themselves acting out the play-within-a-play with finger puppets. A show within a show within a show within a show.
* During ''[[¡Three Amigos!
* ''[[Kiss Me Kate]]''
* ''[[Noises Off]]'' probably has the highest ratio of Show Within A Show to, well, show in the history of film.
* ''The Running Man'' TV show is the setting of most of ''[[The Running Man (film)|The Running Man]]'' film.
* ''[[Moulin Rouge]]'' is a musical movie depicting a stage performance of a movie about a man singing about a man writing the story of his involvement in a musical about a man whose involvement in a musical mirrors the writer's. Honestly.
* In the 1998 film ''[[Lucia]]'', the protagonists simultaneously prepare to perform the opera, ''Lucia di Lammermoor'', while reliving the roles of their characters.
* The film version of ''[[Bewitched (film)|Bewitched]]'' is about a remake of the original TV series and the people in it—one of whom is an actual witch.
* The fictional ''Galaxy Quest'' TV show in the real movie ''[[Galaxy Quest]]'' falls under each type of this trope, including Type 1; the film centers on the washed up cast members of the show.
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* ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' has both Lewis Prothero's and Gordon Deitrich's shows, the former being the Voice of London, a part of the facist regime controlling the city, and the latter being a comedy [[Sketch Show]].
* Porn movie ''Fly Girls'' is about the guerilla shooting of a porn film on a plane. The actors and actresses all play parodies of themselves. It's actually really funny.
* ''[[Scandale]]'' (1982) was a hastily-made B-movie which parodied a 1981 Québec provincial scandal. Civil servants were caught using the legislative assembly's video equipment to view and duplicate porn. There was a brief claim, quickly debunked, that the underpaid civil servants were making porn using legislature facilities... so the film runs with this to create ''Pornobec'' as a Show Within a Show, with the final product accidentally submitted to the [[Cannes Film Festival]] in place of whatever film the Ministry of Culture intended to promote. The movie they're supposedly making serves mostly as a way of [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]] by inserting as much porn as possible without the real picture being reclassified from ''«
* ''[[The Adventures of Baron Munchausen]]'' begins with a play about the eponymous Baron, performing his [[Tall Tale|tall tales]] in a burned out city; when the real Baron von Munchausen shows up to "correct" their portayal of him and his erstwhile companions, to whom the actors bear a striking resemblance.
* ''[[The Tall Guy]]'' features [[Jeff Goldblum]] as a struggling actor who quits his job as sidekick to popular, and abusive offstage, comedian Ron Anderson ([[Rowan Atkinson]] in a hilarious [[Self-Deprecation|self-parody]]). He auditions unsuccessfully for parts in several plays, and finally lands the lead role in a musical version of ''[[The Elephant Man]]'' entitled, according to his agent, "'Elephant', I think; with an exclamation point, presumably".
* ''[[RoboCop]]'' has two:
** One an action show about a lawman, ''T.J. Lazer'', which is the favorite show of Murphy's son.
** Another, ''It's Not My Problem'', is a comedy of sorts. {{quote|"[[Memetic Mutation| I'd buy that for a dollar!]]"}} Something of a A ''[[Running Gag]]'' in the franchise, the show had a nutty host with glasses and a mustache, several well-endowed female models, and slapstick comedy.
* ''[[Forgetting Sarah Marshall]]'' where Sarah is the star of Crime Scene - Scene of the Crime. Jason Segel's character also writes music for the show.
* ''[[The Holiday]]'' features a movie trailer for a fictional film called "Deception" starring [[James Franco]] and [[Lindsay Lohan]].
* [[Friends with Benefits (film)|''Friends with Benefits'']] features a romantic comedy starring [[Jason Segel]] and Rashida Jones.
* ''[[Inland Empire]]'' centers([[Mind Screw|?]]) around the production of the movie ''On High In Blue Tomorrows'', an alleged romance that starts to literally mess with the main character's mind. {{spoiler|possibly due to a curse}} Certain sections of the film deal with ''Rabbits'', another project by David Lynch. As you'd expect from the man, it isn't cute. The absolutely deranged plot of both the show, the fake movie and the Film as a whole ensures you're not sure what level of reality they're on, and makes it hard to distinguish as types 1,3 or 4.
* In ''[[Halloween III:
* ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'' has ''itself'' as the show-in-a-show: {{spoiler|at the end of the film, Sheriff Bart, the Waco Kid and <s>Hedy
** Earlier, an in-universe fight breaks the ''third'' wall and spills onto the set for an unnamed musical filming in the next soundstage.
* ''[[Tropic Thunder]]'' begins with a series of trailers for fictional movies starring the film's main characters.
* The ''[[Scream (film)|Scream]]'' movies have their own movies-within-a-movie, "Stab," which first arrived in [[Scream]] 2 as a [[Plot Parallel|fictionalized account of the events of the first movie.]] [[Scream]] 3 takes place largely on the set of "Stab 3."
* Pretty much any comedy built around a [[Struggling Broadcaster]], in any medium, will have that broadcaster produce a few far-fetched shows within the show.
* For instance, [["Weird Al" Yankovic]]'s ''[[UHF (film)|UHF]]'' fills an entire fictional broadcast schedule with these:
** [[Almighty Janitor]]: ''Stanley Spadowski's Clubhouse''
** [[Wheel of Decisions]]: The ''[[Wheel of Fortune|Wheel of Fish]]'' game show.
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=== Literature ===
* The ''[[Redwall]]'' books have Plays Within A Book occasionally, notably in ''Marlfox'' with the [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|Duel of Insults]].
* ''The Rolling Stones'' by [[Robert Heinlein]]. Roger Stone's primary source of income is writing a space opera television serial. The rest of the family "helps" with brainstorming plotlines. At one point, Roger turns over writing duties to grandma Hazel and youngest son Lowell.
* In [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[The Golden Oecumene|The Golden Age]]'', Daphne is competing in a dream universe competition with a romantic, fairy-tale universe. Her [[Laser-Guided Amnesia]] leads to her being surprised at getting high points for external relevance.
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* In ''Rodrigo y el libro sin final'' (''Rodrigo and the unfinished book''), the titular character, a nine-year-old boy, helps a novelist suffering from writer's block to find an ending for a book he borrowed from the library. This is also an example of Types Three (because the story revolves around this) Four, because some events in that book (which tells the story of a pirate who reaches old age) can be put in parallel with the writer's own life.
* There are several in the ''[[Discworld]]'' series: ''Moving Pictures'' has a large number of snippets/scenes from the "clicks" (movies) being produced, most of which parody either specific films or film genres; ''Wyrd Sisters'' features a Macbeth-like play and a Macbeth-like plot; ''Maskerade'' does much the same with Phantom of the Opera; and ''The Fifth Elephant'' frequently alludes to an opera about the semi-mythical founders of the dwarven kingdoms.
* Tanya Huff's ''[[Smoke and Shadows
=== Live-Action TV ===
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** Larry's show on ''Hello Larry''.
* ''[[You Can't Do That on Television]]'' has a show-within-a-show that shares the same title.
* There was a short-lived American [[Sitcom]] named ''[[All Is Forgiven]]'', which was about the writers and actors of a soap opera. The soap opera was also named ''All Is Forgiven''.
* ''[[The Red Green Show]]'' is framed as a men's advice and magazine show, with the men of Possum Lodge offering "helpful" advice, only to usually end up with disastrous results.
* ''[[Grosse Pointe]]'' has show-within-a-show as its central premise, and advertised it as "''Grosse Pointe'' is a comedy about a drama called ''Grosse Pointe''" or something to that effect.
* [[Reality Show]] example: The eponymous show of ''[[I Survived a Japanese Gameshow]]'' is given its own title, ''Hai! Majide'', pretty much just for effect.
* ''[[Glass Mask]]'' is a series about acting, so naturally includes a large number of these, some real plays, some created for the story (and one created for the story which was later turned into a Noh play of its own). Also includes a performance of ''A Midsummer's Night Dream'', so technically includes an example of a show within a show within a show.
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== Examples of type 2 (characters are fans) ==
=== Anime
* The titular character of [[Crayon Shin-chan]] loves to watch ''Action Kamen''. Some episodes of the series are dedicated to him, only showing his adventures, and then they show Shin-chan laughing like Action Kamen while watching the episode on TV.
** In the gag dub, it is called ''Action Bastard''
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* [[Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai!|Oreimo]] has Stardust Witch Meruru, a Magical Girl Show, and Kirino is a fan of the show. In one episode, she made Kanako dress up as Meruru, and Kanako won the contest!
===
* In the comic book ''[[Young Justice (comics)|Young Justice]]'', the characters watched a TV show called ''Wendy the Werewolf Stalker'', a parody of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''.
* ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]'' has ''Tales of the Black Freighter'', a comic book told almost in its entirety within the graphic novel. Its author shows up in a couple scenes, and it ends up eerily paralleling a certain character's fate.
* In the ''[[Super Mario Bros.]].'' comic books, Mario is a huge fan of comic-book-within-a-comic-book ''Dirk Drain-Head'', which is hated by the other good guys (including Luigi, who ironically looks exactly like Dirk), but loved also by Bowser's minions.
* One issue of ''[[Hack Slash]]'' has Cassie and Vlad battling a slasher at a comic book convention; needless to say, there are a few comics within the comic.
* Al Capp's classic comic strip ''[[Li'l Abner]]'' had the comic-strip-within-a-comic-strip [[wikipedia:Fearless Fosdick|''Fearless Fosdick'']], which was a parody of ''[[Dick Tracy]]'' that became almost as popular as ''Li'l Abner'' itself. Later Capp did a similar parody of ''[[Peanuts]]'' called ''Pee Wee''.▼
* ''Justice Girl'' is a comic within a comic in ''[[The Maze Agency]]'' (and, in universe, spawned a short-lived TV series). jen was a huge fan of ''Justice Girl'' when she was younger.
* The comic strip ''[[Garfield]]'' sometimes has Garfield watching the kid's shows "[http://garfield.nfshost.com/?s=Uncle+Roy+tv Uncle Roy]{{Dead link}}" and "[http://garfield.nfshost.com/?s=Binky+tv Binky The Clown]{{Dead link}}", parodies of ''[[Mister Rogers' Neighborhood]]'' and ''[[The Bozo Show]]'', respectively.▼
=== Fan Works ===
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* Dean Winchester of ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' is a big (though secret) fan of the ''[[House (TV series)|House]]''-like ''Dr. Sexy, MD''.
* In an unusual case, a real show was the show-within-a-show on ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' -- Spike was a fan of the [[Soap Opera]] ''[[Passions]]'', and was shown watching -- or trying to watch -- it on several occasions.
=== Newspaper Comics ===
▲* Al Capp's classic comic strip ''[[Li'l Abner]]'' had the comic-strip-within-a-comic-strip [[wikipedia:Fearless Fosdick|''Fearless Fosdick'']], which was a parody of ''[[Dick Tracy]]'' that became almost as popular as ''Li'l Abner'' itself. Later Capp did a similar parody of ''[[Peanuts]]'' called ''Pee Wee''.
▲* The comic strip ''[[Garfield]]'' sometimes has Garfield watching the kid's shows "[http://garfield.nfshost.com/?s=Uncle+Roy+tv Uncle Roy]{{Dead link}}" and "[http://garfield.nfshost.com/?s=Binky+tv Binky The Clown]{{Dead link}}", parodies of ''[[Mister Rogers' Neighborhood]]'' and ''[[The Bozo Show]]'', respectively.
=== Theater ===
* ''Wiz-O-Mania'' in ''[[Wicked (theatre)|Wicked]]''.
* ''[[The Drowsy Chaperone]]''. Man in Chair is listening to a record of the show.
** The [[Crowning Moment of Funny]] comes when he puts on the record for Act II, and it turns out to be the record for an ''entirely different show.''
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== Examples of type 3 (SWAS is plot point) ==
=== Anime
* In ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei|(Zoku) Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei]]'' episode 3, we see Harumi undergo the process of [[Doujinshi|drawing her]] [[Yaoi Fangirl|yaoi doujin]] one summer night while listening to a [[Radio Drama|radio show]] with the other characters talking about [[Older Than They Look|acting their age]]. These are two separate stories, though they occasionally overlap with cut shots and her comments. Note that the radio show is the actual adaptation of the manga chapter, while the [[Day in the Life|night in the life]] of Harumi is anime-specific.
** The next episode goes even further. The first third of the episode involves [[Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe|an alien invasion of Japan]], but the alien commanders [[Distracted by the Sexy|become distracted]] [[Fan Service|by what happens]] [[Shotacon|in the last third of the episode]]. We also get to see [[Another Side, Another Story|the last third in full]], juxtaposed against the first third with picture-in-picture and cut shots. Thus the show within a show goes full circle.
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* [[Tenchi Universe]] gives us one program that distracts Mihoshi so badly that Washu's Mecha Washu-Mihoshi runs off to watch it mid-fight. That show? [[Moldiver]].
===
* A show-within-a-comic plays a pivotal role in ''[[Ronin (comics)|Ronin]]''.
=== Films - Animation ===
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** Since it's a twisted version of what actually happened to Ted, it's also an example of type 4!
** Robin considers becoming a "Currency Rotation Specialist" on "Million Dollar Heads Or Tails", hosted at various times by Regis Philbin and [[Alex Trebek]].
* ''ISN News'' from ''[[Babylon 5]]'' will be a Type 3 from time to time, typically when the news centers around the station itself, or in season 4, {{spoiler|To show how [[Newspeak|EarthGov]] was spinning the news to [[Hero with Bad Publicity|
** Also the [[Voice of the Resistance]], which was used to counter Clark propaganda. It also was used in a [[Batman Gambit]] by Sheridan.
* The semi-final ''[[X Files]]'' episode centered around ''[[The Brady Bunch]]''.
* ''[[I Love Lucy]]'' was a fan of this: Ricky's nightclub performances were frequently discussed...and Lucy was ''always'' trying to get to perform in the acts.
=== Radio ===
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== Examples of type 4 ([[Plot Parallel]]) ==
=== Anime
* ''The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina'', the [[Non-Indicative First Episode]] ([[Anachronic Order|sort of]]) of ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi|The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' produced by the main characters, foreshadows the weird goings on (most notably the existence of aliens, time travelers, and espers) that are the focus of the rest of the series.
* In ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' there are frequently radio and TV talk shows subtly playing in the background that mirror psychological issues being dealt with in the show. Especially prevalent in the first half of the show.
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* Similarly played with (but mostly without the horror aspect) in another of [[Satoshi Kon]]'s movies, [[Millennium Actress]]. The movie depicts the life of a retired actress through a series of long flashbacks, which are intertwined with scenes from her movies. Of course, this being a Satoshi Kon movie, it's rarely entirely clear what's from a movie and what was her actual life. Either she was typecast in a ludicrously specific role, which happened to very closely mirror her actual life, [[Mind Screw|or...]]
===
* There are several in the comic ''[[Y: The Last Man]]''. ''The Last Man'' is a play written and performed by the Fish & Bicycles acting troupe (Yorick, the ''real'' last man is not happy to discover that the play ends with ''him'' dying). The same people are seen several years later (unsuccessfully) trying to make an action movie about the radical man-hating Daughters of the Amazon, then finally end up creating a successful comic series about the last woman on Earth (Yorick is equally unimpressed with it). And when the protagonists are in Japan they watch traditional Noh theatre featuring a demon called Hitogoroshi (Manslaughter).
* In the [[Marvel Universe]], there's an actual [[Marvel Comics]] company that produces licensed comics based on the real-life adventures of the heroes. This started as early as ''[[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]]'' #10, January 1963. The ''[[She-Hulk]]'' series uses these in-universe comics in the title character's legal cases. [[DC Comics]], after abandoning [[Literary Agent Hypothesis|Earth-Prime]], took this idea into their own canon.
** Amusingly, since in most cases the superheroes themselves gain licensing money and are actually somewhat involved in the comic's production, it's implied that the in-universe Marvel comics are slightly more skewered to portray the heroes in a better light than our real-world versions of the same comics. The heroes themselves usually answer the fanmail in the comics too, which leads to some really odd things being said—like Reed Richards wanting to get rid of fashion and force everyone in the world to wear Fantastic Four-style uniforms.
** At one point, the Marvel Universe Marvel Comics company hired a new artist for their ''Captain America'' comic... named Steve Rogers.
*** Which brings up another amusing point about he comics: While some heroes, like the aforementioned She-Hulk and Fantastic Four, are public figures in the Marvel Universe, others, like [[Spider-Man]] or [[Daredevil]], aren't about to spill their secret identities on newsstands, so their comics-within-a-comic are only accurate as far as the superheroics go, and make up the heroes' personal lives and origin stories out of whole cloth.
*** Marvel once printed a series of one-shots, called ''Marvels Comics'', which were supposed to be the comics that exist in the 616 universe.
* ''[[Watchmen]]'' also has ''Tales of the Black Freighter'', a dark pirate comic (since superhero comics didn't catch on in a world with real superheroes, pirate comics became common instead) which is used as a metaphor for various parts of the story and the characters' plights.
* [[Daniel Clowes]]' comic ''David Boring'' has the protagonist find "The Yellow Streak," a one shot comic by his father that seems to suggest why his parents divorced, while individual panels are used in the main story to suggest David's reactions.
=== Films - Live-Action ===
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* In ''[[Absolutely Fabulous]]'', Saffron writes an autobiographical play entitled ''The Self-Raising Flower'', which uses actual dialogue from previous episodes.
* Apparently, a TV movie featuring two characters who look and act suspiciously like bad copies of Mulder and Scully exists ''within'' ''[[The X-Files]]'' and ''[[Millennium (TV series)|Millennium]]'' universe. In the ''X-Files'' episode "Hollywood A.D." (s07e18), Mulder and Scully meet their "actor" counterparts on the set. A scene of what looks like this fake ''X-Files'' movie is running on a TV screen in the background during one ''Millenium'' episode. In both cases, the show-within-the-show was made to be deliberately cheap-looking and campy.
** Those would be Garry Shandling and Tea Leoni (who was married to David Duchovny
* Similarly, there was an episode of the TV show ''[[Nowhere Man]]'' that featured a cheaply produced, poorly acted cable-TV-esque version of the main events of the series, which included the events of the episode itself.
* ''The Adventures of FATMAN'', the show-within-a-show in ''[[The Weird Al Show]]'', tells of a man who can change into a fat man with the power to lift heavy objects, withstand scalding liquids, and fly, though [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|slower than cars]]. Harvey the hamster can stand and talk in this show, and is generally [[Hypercompetent Sidekick|cleverer]] than [["Weird Al" Yankovic]].
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