Miranda Hart
“Bang our head when we galloped through the 4th wall, did we?”
In her TV show, ‘Miranda’, she uses the technique of talking straight to the audience i.e. by looking into the camera. It was George Sepich that first told me this was called ‘breaking the 4th wall’, a technique originating in stage shows.
From the audience’s perspective, it brings another element to the experience of watching what is otherwise a spectator’s position on the scene, bringing them into the storyline. The first time you see it, you may find it jarring as it breaks the rules – but is perfect as a comedic tool for that reason.
And just to point out, Miranda is also tall (over 6 foot) and plays to that fact; she ‘gallops places’, and uses the language pattern ‘…did we?’ – hence pulling together these elements into the one-liner above.
