List of fourth wall breaks

Patrick holding a time card.

The term "breaking the fourth wall" mainly means that the character acknowledges that they are in a cartoon. So far, the episode to hold the record for most fourth wall breaks in that single episode is "Krusty Krab Training Video."

Episodes

Season 1

• In "Tea at the Treedome," SpongeBob looked at the screen when he said, "That little squirrel is in trouble."
• In "Nature Pants," Squidward said he gave SpongeBob 11 minutes out of civilization. That is the exact length of the episode, and most other episodes as well.
• In "Karate Choppers", SpongeBob's arm actually comes from the telephone to attack Sandy, but Sandy pulls it back and it hits SpongeBob.

Season 2

• In "Your Shoe's Untied," though it was part of the song, SpongeBob was seen pulling on the shoe laces on the "Loop de Loop" card. He also interacted with Painty the Pirate, whom only appears in the intro.
• In "Dying for Pie," SpongeBob talks to Mr. Krabs in the thought bubble and Mr. Krabs reacts to SpongeBob.
• In "No Free Rides," SpongeBob actually ran over the French Narrator in the beginning of the episode.

Season 3

• In "Club SpongeBob," Squidward said "Why must every eleven minutes of my life be filled with misery?!" Eleven minutes happens to be the length of the episode.
• In "Missing Identity," when Patrick stops laughing, he says, "Sorry, people," probably referring to the audience or "crew". Also, the cafe lady says, "You've managed to kill eleven minutes," referring to the length of the episode.
• In "Wet Painters," Patrick was actually holding one of the time cards, and even said, "Can you move it along? I'm all out of time cards."
• In "Krusty Krab Training Video," the Narrator talks directly to SpongeBob and the viewer for most of the episode. Squidward and Patrick also seem to notice the Narrator talking as well.
• In "Pranks a Lot," Mr. Krabs talks to and shows the viewers his items of defense against ghosts.

Season 4

• In "All That Glitters," as SpongeBob is rolling on the ground crying, another image of SpongeBob appears on the screen, saying, "All that glitters, is not gold." This actually breaks the fourth wall in two ways: SpongeBob was talking to the viewer, and referenced the episode title.
• In "Krabs vs. Plankton," SpongeBob hums the end credits theme of the series when going to Mr. Krabs' office.
• In "Born to Be Wild," SpongeBob actually rides the bubble transition to quickly get into the Krusty Krab and warn Mr. Krabs about the bikers. Mr. Krabs is shocked, wondering where SpongeBob came from.

  File:Born to be Wild 008.png

  Spongebob riding a bubble transition

Season 5

• In "New Digs," SpongeBob appears to be singing along to the title card music for this episode.
• In "Pat No Pay," when Patrick is suffering from Krabby Patty withdrawal, SpongeBob says, "He [Patrick] needs one [a Krabby Patty], or he'll keep mumbling about it for the next three-and-a-half minutes. This is referring to the approximate amount of time remaining in that episode (the episode is four minutes long).

Season 6

• In "Shell Shocked," SpongeBob suddenly appears in Angry Jack's commercial.
• In "Overbooked," Sandy is able to pull herself across the telephone line, visual to the viewer, to yell at SpongeBob.
• In "Truth or Square," Plankton is in the real screen, while Mr. Krabs is a thought bubble. Mr. Krabs actually talks to Plankton from the thought bubble. Also, most of the flashbacks have all the characters looking up at a thought bubble.

Season 7

• In "SpongeBob's Last Stand," when Mr. Krabs wants to know when the approval of the Shelly Superhighway was passed, Plankton responds, "Observe in this conveniently timed flashback."

Season 8

• In "Drive Thru," after one of Pearl's friends screamed in Squidward's ear with a megaphone, Squidward holds his ear in pain, looks at the screen and talks directly to the viewers, saying, "I'm not faking it, y'know. That really hurt... a lot."
• In "Oral Report," the small fish on Sandy's display comes to life, and even rips the screen to hide himself.
• In "House Sittin' for Sandy," SpongeBob is able to go from his bed to Sandy's treedome in an instant, and Sandy can't figure out where he came from.
• In "Planet of the Jellyfish," the time card "Eleven Minutes Later" is shown, which is the length for that episode. SpongeBob also takes eleven minutes to tell his story.

Season 9

• In "Plankton's Pet," Plankton shouts out, "Holy plot twist!" when Spot brings him a Krabby Patty. 

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie

• SpongeBob says, "We'll be in Shell City in one more verse," referring to the song Now That We're Men being sung throughout the whole time they travel through the trench. Patrick also references the song under the heat lamp by weakly singing "You mean we're not gonna 'get the crown, save the town and Mr. Krabs?'"