History Main / ScreenTap

[[folder:Commercials]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''WebAnimation/HomeStarRunner'': Strong Bad, in a bid to escape the [[BreakingTheFourthWall 'tiny box,']] actually 'breaks' your screen at the end of many of the "Podstar" versions of the episodes.
* The UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}mote does this in [[http://www.super78.com Super 78 Studios']] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvZbxfwnLfA Wii - Hold on Tight! 2]], presumably to test its durability after [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qfMK23avLY the previous video]].

* [[Creator/RobPaulsen Mr. Opportunity]] from Honda commercials.
-->I'm Mr. Opportunity, [''knocks on glass''] and I'm knockin'!
** In radio ads featuring Mr. Opportunity, he taps on the microphone twice.

* In 1991, after Bo Jackson broke his hip, Nike ran a new "Bo Knows" [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOVHVII4tXI commercial]] showing him training to get back into shape. Creator/DenisLeary, the narrator, ends the commercial with a reference to his Creator/{{MTV}} promos by saying "I think you hear me knocking, and I think I'm coming in, and I'm bringing Bo and his big bad hip with me" before knocking on the screen twice.

* The first series of Creator/VictorLewisSmith's ''{{Ads Infinitum}}'' opens with an animated Victor proclaiming "Good evening, my name is Victor, I am a TV critic, and I live inside your television set." He then taps several times on the screen with his remote control, accidentally smashing it on the last tap, making him say "Oh, [[CurseCutShort f-]]".

* Franchise/HugoTheTVTroll has a habit of doing this when you die in the games.
* The Scout of ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' does this in "Meet The Scout". As a neat detail, his screen-poke leaves a greasy smudge that stays on-screen for the rest of the short.
** This trend is carried on in both "Meet The Medic" and "Meet The Pyro", albeit being a bit of a fake-out (the "screens" he runs into ends up being a window and a camera, respectively). Even though the "Meet The Director" comic establishes that these cameras exist in-universe, it's still in line with Scout being a FourthWallObserver (i.e. acknowledging that he's a character class, referring to the base as a "map", and teasing his opponents about ragequitting).

* ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3'': In one of his countless fourth-wall breaking moments, Deadpool taps and shakes the screen while calling out the player for their laziness after winning a fight.
* If the player [[IdleAnimation idles for too long]] in Ken Griffey Junior's Winning Run, the umpire will turn around, tap the screen with a baseball, and say "Play the game, kid."

* The main menu of ''VideoGame/LEGORacers'' has a LEGO character (specifically the next circuit champion you have to beat) on it, dancing around. If you [[IdleAnimation wait long enough]], the character will bang on the screen in a sort of ContinueYourMissionDammit.
* Protagonist Rincewind does this after a few minutes of [[IdleAnimation inactivity]] in ''VideoGame/{{Discworld}}''. The screen shifts to an extreme close-up of him, and he shouts "HELLOOOOO!!" while tapping the screen and looking around for the player.
* In ''VideoGame/PlaystationAllStarsBattleRoyale'', one of VideoGame/JakAndDaxter's introductions involves Daxter tapping on the screen while Jak stands in the background.
* In all of the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' games, one of the possible results of having your character thrown off the top of the screen is them smacking into the camera, obscuring the view of the brawl behind them for a moment before falling off.
* In the patient select screen of VideoGame/DieAnstalt, Lilo will sometimes tap on the screen with one of his blocks.

* [[WebAnimation/HomeStarRunner Strong Bad]], in a bid to escape the [[BreakingTheFourthWall 'tiny box,']] actually 'breaks' your screen at the end of many of the "Podstar" versions of the episodes.

* Tino from ''WesternAnimation/TheWeekenders'' sometimes does this at the beginning of an episode, and even does it during the theme song.
* Daniel Tiger Jr. will nuzzle the screen in WesternAnimation/DanielTigersNeighborhood. You can hear it. Also, in "Mad At the Beach," when Daniel and Elena splash each other at the beach, they also splash the screen.
* WesternAnimation/WallE did this in one of his movie's promos, accidentally cracking the screen.

* [[PlayedForDrama Used to horrifying effect in]] {{WesternAnimation/Rejected}}, where a stickman desperately bangs on the paper [[spoiler: [[CreatorBreakdown as the animated world around him collapses.]] It's to no avail, as he is consumed by the DreamApocalypse.]]
* At the end of "Staying Within the Lines" on ''WesternAnimation/DragonTales'', Max ends the show by scribbling black across the screen.

* WesternAnimation/BluesCluesAndYou:
** Blue licks the screen at the end of "Laugh With Blue. She also did it in "Happy Birthday, Blue!", "Bluestock", "Blue's Night Before Christmas" and "Blue's Show and Tell Surprise."
** Blue and Magenta both lick the screen twice in "Getting Glasses With Magenta."
** Blue also licks the screen in the show's intro sequence.
* WesternAnimation/{{Beetlejuice}}, in his debut episode, smooshes his face on the screen begging kids to send him money so he can get Lydia a present.

* In the opening of ''WesternAnimation/BeanyAndCecil'', Cecil licks Beany, creator Bob Clampett, and the TV screen.

* Banjo does this in the opening theme of ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie''.

* In ''VideoGame/PacMan 2: The New Adventures'', Pac-Man will tap the screen if you leave the game paused [[IdleAnimation for too long]].

* In all of the Smash Brothers games, one of the possible results of having your character thrown off the top of the screen is them smacking into the camera, obscuring the view of the brawl behind them for a moment before falling off.

** Blue licks the screen at the end of "Laugh With Blue. She also did it in "Happy Birthday, Blue!" and "Bluestock".

Compare with CameraAbuse.

* The Office Assistant of Microsoft Office (better known as Clippy, though [[CommonKnowledge Microsoft calls him Clippit]]) will sometimes tap the screen. Particularly when you try to close the document with unsaved changes, in which case he leans in and taps the screen with the message "Do you want to save your changes to [document name]? [Yes] [No] [Cancel]".

* The Microsoft Office paper clip assistant, Clippit.

As TechnologyMarchesOn, the "screen glass tap" sound effect is [[TheCoconutEffect still in use despite being an]] [[TheArtifact Artifact]] due to the rise of flat-screen LCD's not made out of glass, though some uses now feature a "dull thump" sound effect instead to compensate for this change.