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In-Character Commentaries - TV Tropes

  • ️Mon Feb 04 2013

DVD Commentary is cool and all, but sometimes it can get tiring hearing the director or producer just drone on and on and on and on... Sure, it provides some interesting insight into the development of the film, but it's also mind-numblingly boring!

Solution? Stick an actor in front of the mic and have them do the entire commentary track in character. While this can be more entertaining then regular commentary, it runs the risk of being less informative about the film-making process. Some movies do both, making sure that there is something for everyone.

A Sub-Trope of DVD Commentary and a form of Breaking the Fourth Wall. It can also be Leaning on the Fourth Wall if the movie is treated like it was made in-universe.

Examples:

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Anime & Manga 

Fan Works 

  • A take on this trope exists in fanfiction, which will have several characters from the work somehow end up magically finding the work they originate from and watching and reacting to it together.

Films — Animation 

Films — Live-Action 

Live-Action TV 

Video Games 

  • When Blaz Blue Chrono Phantasma was being location tested for its arcade release, clearing the game with a character would reward the player with a voiced message from the character they played as, thanking them for playing and urging the player to check out the arcade and console releases. These are unlockable in the console version, and curiously enough are dubbed in English despite the location tests happening exclusively in Japan.
  • Saints Row 4: Enter the Dominatrix, rather than having conventional cutscenes before and after missions, shows the game's Animated Actors being interviewed about the DLC, talking about what parts got cut or that they hated. They'll also occasionally speak up during gameplay.
  • In the SpongeBob SquarePants Atlantis SquarePantis tie-in video game, an unlockable for every level is commentary given by SpongeBob, under the assumption that the game is actually a movie being filmed while still using game terminology like "levels".

Visual Novels 

  • At the beginning of each episode of Double Homework, Johanna and Tamara summarize the events of the previous one according to the choices made by the player.

Web Animation 

  • Homestar Runner:
    • "The King of Town" has commentary by Strong Bad. "The Search for the Yello Dello" has commentary by Strong Bad, Homestar, and Strong Sad. "Experimental Film" has commentary (hidden as an Easter Egg) by the directors Strong Sad and The Cheat... and Strong Bad and Homestar show up to crash it.
    • Many, many of the shorts on the DVDs feature commentaries from a variety characters, primarily Strong Bad and Homestar.

Web Videos 

  • Stampy's Lovely World: The non-canonical Recap Episode "Stampy Vs Hit The Target – The Story So Far" functions as this, narrated by Stampy himself, catching viewers up to date on the two's ongoing animosity over the years, up until the Series Hiatus.

Western Animation 

  • The first three 3-2-1 Penguins! episodes have commentaries by Ron Smith, Zidgel, Midgel, Fidgel, and Kevin.
  • In an episode of American Dad!, Klaus pretends his life is a DVD and he's supplying the commentary track. Late in the episode, he starts talking over a scene he's not actually in.
  • The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes has a DVD bonus feature in which Iron Man, Captain America, The Mighty Thor, and the Hulk comment on "surveillance footage" of some of their adventures.
  • A few episodes of the first season of The Boondocks has commentary by Uncle Ruckus. Doubly hilarious because one of the episodes was "Return of the King", the anvilicious MLK episode, and consists mostly of Ruckus doubling down on everything he said during the episode.
  • The Family Guy episode "You Can't Handle the Booth" is an entire episode of the characters commentating on a fake episode called "New Phone, Who Dis?" Highlights include Brian and Stewie arguing over the proper name for banister slats, the Griffins arguing over the lack of any twists to Peter's performance of "Halfway Down the Stairs", and Meg revealing some trivia while talking over a Cutaway Gag setup, forcing the other Griffins to wonder what the Visual Pun of the gag is until Lois remembers how the setup went.
  • Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends:
    • "Store Wars": Mac, Bloo, and Frankie give a commentary; Mac and Frankie attempt to get Bloo to sign an apology letter for the incident(s) in this episode for Frankie to go back to shop.
    • "Mac Daddy": Cheese gives a commentary throughout the episode "Cheese Spills the Beans".
  • The complete series DVD/Blu-ray release of Gravity Falls has the standard creator commentary on each episode, as well as three hidden bonus commentaries. One is by Jason Ritter on the episode "Double Dipper", another by series composer Brad Breeck on "Not What He Seems", and the last is by Alex Hirsch in-character as Stan Pines on the episode "The Land Before Swine". Near the end of the latter, Soos joins in the discussion for a bit.
  • Several episodes of the first and second seasons DVD of King of the Hill had commentary from the cast: a few were from Peggy and Bobby Hill, and others were from Dale and Bill.
  • Making Fiends: In the DVDs of the web series, there are alternate versions of each episode. A few of them have commentaries by characters.
    • "Charlotte's Fist Day Part 1: New Student" by Charlotte and Vendetta.
    • "Charlotte's First Day Part 2: Show and Tell" by Marion.
    • "Shrinking Charlotte" by Vendetta and Grudge.
    • "Substitute Teacher" by Mr. Milk.
  • Most of The Muppets' movies have the characters providing commentary.
  • Phineas and Ferb:
    • "Flop Starz" — Doofenshmirtz and Norm
    • "The Ballad of Badbeard" — Candace, Linda, Stacy, Doofenshmirtz, Norm, Monogram, Carl, and Perry
    • "Attack of the 50-Foot Sister" — Monogram and Doofenshmirtz
    • "The Chronicles of Meap" — Monogram and Doofenshmirtz
    • "No More Bunny Business" — Buford and Baljeet
    • "Perry Lays an Egg" — Monogram and Carl
  • The Ren & Stimpy Show had episode commentaries of "Circus Midgets" and "Big Flakes" by both Ren and Stimpy in the DVDs of the Games Animation seasons. Similarly, an Easter Egg on the Season Five and Some More of Four DVD had a brief 4 minute commentary of "Stupid Sidekick Union" with George Liquor joining Ren and Stimpy.
  • The Simpsons:
    • In "Behind The Laughter", Homer provides commentary for his famous gorge jump from "Bart the Daredevil":

      Homer: Everything was going great at first. I felt like I was king of the world. Right about here, I realize something's wrong. Yep, there I go. Then came the rocks — jagged rocks, hitting me with their jags.

    • Happens in-universe in "The Bart Wants What It Wants", where an Itchy and Scratchy DVD has Itchy and Scratchy giving a commentary. Of course, this being Itchy and Scratchy, Itchy ends up killing Scratchy during the commentary.
  • In the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "SpongeBob vs. The Big One" Plankton gives a commentary titled "Plankton's Special Sinister Commentary". Also similar to MST3K.