Related:
Herbie breaks into a movie to hit up Cary Grant for money and Herbie grabs thought balloons and even climbs in. There are even references to Herbie's creators: Richard E. Hughes and Ogden Whitney. In addition to these examples, Herbie's shrugs are examples of breaking the 4th wall to speak to the audience.
Index terms: self-reference, breaking the fourth wall, talking to the reader, metafiction, meta-reference, recursion, Richard E. Hughes, Ogden Whitney