Porn, the poor man’s prostitute.
Dreamworks Animation, the poor man’s Pixar.
BTW, the thread is WAHSOME!
South Park, the poor man’s Beavis and Butt-head
Vanilla Ice, the (extremely) poor man’s Eminem
It might be a musical reference (the OP makes several other musical comparisons). “Black” is a song by Pearl Jam and “tongue” is a song by R.E.M.
Huntly, the New Zealand man’s Buffalo, NY.
Disco, the poor man’s Funk.
The Faces are the poor man’s Rolling Stones.
The Kinks are the poor man’s Who.
Maybe someone already said:
Bananarama, the poor man’s Go-Gos.
The Go-Gos, the poor man’s Bangles.
Rockwell, the sadly impoverished man’s Michael Jackson.
Harmonica, the poor man’s saxophone.
Not to be confused with the kazoo, the homeless man’s saxophone.
Ray Liotta is the poor man’s Ray Liotta, Seriously ask the person sitting close to you, they will understand
Cheese Nips, the poor man’s Aunt Jemima Syrup.
Episcopalianism, the poor man’s Roman Catholicism 
Ooo, ouch, that hurts. I prefer “Gilt without the guilt.”
Feet, the poor man’s car.
A bike is a poor man’s car. Feet are a poor man’s bike.
A bus is a poor man’s car. A bike is a poor man’s bus. Feet are a poor man’s bike. Hands and knees are a drunk man’s feet (is that a poor joke, or what?)
Peter Weir, the poor man’s Ridley Scott.
Barry Sonnenfeld, the poor man’s Tim Burton.
(Rearrange those pairs according to personal taste and opinion, 'natch.)
Andrei Tupolev, the poor man’s “Kelly” Johnson.
Comic books, the poor man’s graphic novels.
The Raspberries: the poor man’s Badfinger.
Clint Howard. The poor man’s Ron Howard. 
Actually, it’s Tony Scott who’s the poor man’s Ridley Scott.
Wes Bentley is the poor man’s Jake Gyllenhaal.
Yeah, they’re both stupid and in much the same way but Beavis and Butt-head is somehow so much better.