# Artists who parodied their own work **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 6, 2022, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-parodied-their-own-work/957323 "2022-01-06T14:02:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-parodied-their-own-work/957323/1 "2022-01-06T14:02:23Z")
I’ll bet most people on the Board won’t recognize **Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse** , which was a made-for-TV cartoon series from 1960. They live in the Cat Cave, travel in the Catmobile and the Catplane, and can be called by the Cat Signal searchlight. Instead of a Utility Belt with lots of gadgets, he has an apparently inexhaustable supply of themed “guns”. It’s very obviously a parody of Batman and Robin. What’s surprising is that it’s by Batman creator Bob Kane (plus Gerald Rappoport) > **[Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courageous_Cat_and_Minute_Mouse)** > > Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse, is a 1960 children's cartoon television show, that was produced by Trans-Artists Productions, and syndicated by Tele Features Inc. The characters were originated and created by authors Bob Kane and Gerald J. Rappoport as a spoof of Kane's earlier creations, Batman and Robin. In many ways, Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse presages the camp aspects of the later Batman live action series, which William Dozier and Howie Horwitz produced as a villain-driven actio In ... [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/RAmmT8Ng0mw/hqdefault.jpg "Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse - Volume 1") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAmmT8Ng0mw) In 1967-8 Marvel comics had **Not Brand Ecch** , which ran parodies of their own superheroes (and DC ones, as well), written and drawn by the usual Marvel staff, often the very ones who wrote and drew the original characters. It ran 13 issues > **[Not Brand Echh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_Brand_Echh)** > > Not Brand Echh is a satiric comic book series published by Marvel Comics that parodied its own superhero stories as well as those of other comics publishers. Running for 13 issues (cover-dated Aug. 1967 to May 1969), it included among its contributors such notable writers and artists as Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Gene Colan, Bill Everett, John and Marie Severin, and Roy Thomas. With issue #9, it became a 68-page, 25¢ "giant", relative to the typical 12¢ comics of the times. In 2017, a 14th issue was r... > **[Not Brand Echh Vol 1](https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Not_Brand_Echh_Vol_1)** After writing **The Hobbit** , Tolkien wrote **Farmer Giles of Ham** (although it wasn’t published for another dozen years). It’s been argued that this was a sort-of parody of The Hobbit and adventure tales in general, with Giles a reluctant hero who sort-of defeats a dragon with the aid of a named sword. There are a lot of scholarly in-jokes. I have seen a lot of one-panel or one-page joke and parody strips by comic book artists (there’s a great drawing by one of the Superman artists showing Superman, carrying Clark Kent’s clothes, angrily banging on the door of a phone booth so he can get inside and change, but Alfred E. Neuman refuses to get off the phone), but I’m looking for a long story or sustained series. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-parodied-their-own-work/957323/2 "2022-01-06T14:08:28Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’ll bet most people on the Board won’t recognize **Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse** , which was a made-for-TV cartoon series from 1960. They live in the Cat Cave, travel in the Catmobile and the Catplane, and can be called by the Cat Signal searchlight. Instead of a Utility Belt with lots of gadgets, he has an apparently inexhaustable supply of themed “guns”. I remember it quite well - the theme music is very much like that of “Peter Gunn” (and of course, since I saw Courageous Cat first, I thought Peter Gunn and Spyhunter ([Spy Hunter - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spy_Hunter)) were ripping off CC) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-parodied-their-own-work/957323/3 "2022-01-06T14:10:45Z")
DC had _The Inferior Five_ > **[Inferior Five](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferior_Five)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > The Inferior Five (or I5) are a parody superhero team appearing in books by the American publisher DC Comics. Created by writer E. Nelson Bridwell and artist Joe Orlando, the team premiered in the DC Comics title Showcase #62 (May-June 1966). > The premise is that the characters are the children of members of a superhero team called the Freedom Brigade, a parody of the Justice League of America. In their early appearances, the team went up against ... ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-parodied-their-own-work/957323/4 "2022-01-06T14:20:17Z")
I loved Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse! How about Nicolas Cage in the upcoming _The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent_? Or Arnold Schwarzenegger in _The Last Action Hero_? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-parodied-their-own-work/957323/5 "2022-01-06T14:27:59Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > DC had _The Inferior Five_ I liked the Inferior Five. They weren’t a direct parody of existing characters (as the _Not Brand Ecch_ parodies were), but of the idea of superheroes and superhero teams. Joe Orlando, who drew them, had drawn plenty of heroes for DC. I really like what Phil Foglio did with Inferior Five in his Angel and the Ape miniseries from 1991, but Foglio (who both wrote and drew the series) wasn’t parodying his own work. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-parodied-their-own-work/957323/6 "2022-01-06T14:35:48Z")
E. Nelson Bridwell wrote a lot of superhero comics, and White Feather is a clear parody of Green Arrow. (And I also loved what Foglio did in _Angel and the Ape._) William Shatner clearly parodied his own image in _Free Enterprise._ > **[Free Enterprise (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Enterprise_(film))** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Free Enterprise is a 1999 romantic comedy film starring Eric McCormack and Rafer Weigel, and featuring William Shatner, directed by Robert Meyer Burnett and written by Mark A. Altman and Burnett. > The film deals with the mid-life crises of its two main protagonists, Mark (Eric McCormack) and Robert (Rafer Weigel), fictionalized versions of the film's director and producer/writer. The two friends struggle with adult career and relationship problems... Ricky Gervais’s _Extras_ was chock full of actors doing parodies of themselves (Ian McKellan is particularly notable), but only one of them per show. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-parodied-their-own-work/957323/7 "2022-01-06T14:41:19Z")
I think Charlie Sheen’s character in _Hot Shots: Part Deux_ is, to a considerable degree, a parody of his own character in _Platoon_. And his father’s (who has a cameo appearance) in _Apocalypse Now_. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-parodied-their-own-work/957323/8 "2022-01-06T14:51:14Z")
Adam Sandler plays an Adam Sandler parody in _Funny People_. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-parodied-their-own-work/957323/9 "2022-01-06T14:55:40Z")
In _Spaceballs_, John Hurt did a parody of his own famous “chestburster” scene from _Alien_. Up to the point of saying “Oh no, not again!”. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-parodied-their-own-work/957323/10 "2022-01-06T15:24:28Z")
Wong Kar-Wai directed a very arty _wu xia_ film called **Ashes of Time** , based on the novel Legend of the Condor Heroes. The movie went over budget and the shoot went on beyond schedule. With Wong as executive producer, the studio banged out a _mo lei tau_ parody of the same novel, starring the cast of **Ashes** (plus Joey Wong), that actually got released before **Ashes of Time** did. The golden age Hong Kong film era produced a ton of parodies and knockoffs, with actors riffing on their own iconic roles, sequels turning into parodies of the original, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-parodied-their-own-work/957323/11 "2022-01-06T15:31:12Z")
Check out the bass player… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/g5nzLQ63c9E/maxresdefault.jpg "Paul McCartney - Coming Up (Official Music Video)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5nzLQ63c9E) ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-parodied-their-own-work/957323/12 "2022-01-06T15:43:34Z")
Part parody, part tribute, I suppose: An episode of _Batman: The Animated Series_ featured a fictitious TV series about a superhero called “The Gray Ghost,” which Bruce Wayne supposedly watched when he was a kid. Today, the actor who played the Gray Ghost, having been hopelessly typecast and unable to get any other serious acting work, is now unemployed, mostly forgotten, and living in poverty. That actor is voiced by Adam West, who of course had been hopelessly typecast and unable to get any other serious acting work after playing Batman. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-parodied-their-own-work/957323/13 "2022-01-06T15:45:14Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > William Shatner clearly parodied his own image in _Free Enterprise._ He also did that in Invasion Iowa. He basically spoofs himself. > **[Invasion Iowa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_Iowa)** > > Invasion Iowa is a television series that aired on Spike TV beginning on March 29, 2005, on ITV4 beginning on November 3, 2005, and The Comedy Channel in April 2007. > The series depicts events from September 2004, in which William Shatner played a hoax on the small town of Riverside, Iowa, by claiming to film a science fiction movie there. Unbeknownst to the residents of Riverside, the movie was in fact fake, a satire on the genre. In front of and behind the cameras, Shatner and his purported ent... ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-parodied-their-own-work/957323/14 "2022-01-06T15:52:51Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > An episode of _Batman: The Animated Series_ featured a fictitious TV series about a superhero called “The Gray Ghost,” which Bruce Wayne supposedly watched when he was a kid. And that just reminded me of the “[Wormhole: Extreme!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wormhole_X-Treme!)” episode of Stargate: SG-1. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-parodied-their-own-work/957323/15 "2022-01-06T16:25:49Z")
Not sure if this counts (even though the OP was mine). There are several commercials starring people from James Bond that obviously parody the movies. Daniel Craig vs James Bond ad for Heineken [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/BHQ6nv6UA7U/maxresdefault.jpg "Daniel Craig vs James Bond Commercial") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHQ6nv6UA7U) Daniel Craig “The Chase” ad for Heineken. Craig spent a lot of time portraying a darker, craggier Bond, but in this he says he played a Roger Moore-style lighter Bond [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/kfiQCGGKiWY/maxresdefault.jpg "James Bond - Heineken The Chase commercial featuring Frauscher 747 Mirage") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfiQCGGKiWY) Harold Sakata (Tosh Togo), who played Odd Job in **Goldfinger** appeared in a number of Vicks cough syrup ads as an unnamed martial arts expert who was clearly supposed to be Oddjob [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/bXRzZzcGPHI/hqdefault.jpg "1967 VICK'S COUGH SYRUP COMMERCIAL ODDJOB") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXRzZzcGPHI) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/pI0e_ehUwdE/hqdefault.jpg "1970s COUGH SYRUP COMMERCIAL ODDJOB") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pI0e_ehUwdE) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/6zNP4o8nRaA/hqdefault.jpg "JAMES BOND - ODD JOB TV COMMMERCIAL #1 1964/65") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zNP4o8nRaA) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-parodied-their-own-work/957323/16 "2022-01-06T16:28:50Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Not sure if this counts (even though the OP was mine). There are several commercials starring people from James Bond that obviously parody the movies. If things like that count, then perhaps the numerous examples of celebrities appearing on Saturday Night Live (or other venues) in parodies of their own work would count. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-parodied-their-own-work/957323/17 "2022-01-06T16:58:03Z")
Donald Westlake, under the pseudonym of Richard Stark, wrote grim, gritty, dark thrillers about a criminal who went only by the name of Parker. They were big hits and led to multiple movies. Under his real name he wrote light comic caper tales. One day he was writing a Parker book and it kept coming out funny. So he wrote it as a parody with a gang of incompetent crooks lead by John Dortmunder. That was such a hit that he dropped the Parker series and wrote about a dozen bestselling Dortmunder novels and led to multiple movies. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-parodied-their-own-work/957323/18 "2022-01-06T18:20:36Z")
Neil Young’s then-band Buffalo Springfield’s song “[Broken Arrow](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5b3igkzRhk)” starts off with a snippet of their own song “[Mr Soul](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyc0JSd5q7U)”, with screaming fans and over-the-top pretentious rocker scat singing added, which seems to me to qualify as a parody of it, or of themselves as a rock 'n roll phenomenon. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-parodied-their-own-work/957323/19 "2022-01-06T18:24:21Z")
The Beatles’ Glass Onion mocked “I Am the The Walrus” (or perhaps mocked people who overanalyzed IAtW) “I told you about the walrus and me, man You know we’re as close as can be, man Well here’s another clue for you all The walrus was Paul.” ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-parodied-their-own-work/957323/20 "2022-01-06T19:12:17Z")
In [The Cannonball Run](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082136/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0), Roger Moore plays a character ostensibly named Seymour Goldfarb. His wealthy mother objects to his shunning his life as an heir to be a spy. He spends the whole film driving around in an Aston Martin with all the 007 secret modifications. He identifies himself to everyone else as Roger Moore. It’s unclear to me whether he is supposed to be: (1) a rich guy named Seymour Goldfarb pretending to be the famed actor, Roger Moore, (2) a rich guy named Seymour Goldfarb who is known to the world as the actor in spy films named “Roger Moore,” or (3) a spy named Seymour Goldfarb with the alias “Roger Moore” who superficially resembles the fictional character in our universe known as James Bond. In any event, I think this is supposed to be a parody of James Bond. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-parodied-their-own-work/957323.md?page=2)