# Cases where the parody are more well known than the Original **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 18, 2016, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465 "2016-02-18T17:52:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/21 "2016-02-18T21:14:56Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > _Young Frankenstein_ is based on four movies – _Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Son of Frankenstein,_ and _The Ghost of Frankenstein._ The first and to some extent the second of those movies are fairly familiar, although I would guess that a lot more people know of them than have actually seen them. _Son of Frankenstein,_ however, which _Young Frankenstein_ is based most closely on, is pretty obscure. (You need to see it to really appreciate what a great job Gene Wilder does of imitating Basil Rathbone’s character.) > > I would also guess that more people know “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah” than _The Dance of the Hours._ When I first saw _Young Frankenstein_ on HBO in the early 80s I had never heard of the song _Puttin’ on the Ritz_, so I had absolutely no clue what it was that Peter Boyle’s monster was mumbling during the chorus\*!\* Also, I think the first time I did actually hear the song was a few years later when the freakazoid band _Taco_ did their remake of it. Again in a Mel Brooks/Gene Wilder film, I had no idea the _“We don’t need no stinking badges!”_ line in _[Blazing Saddles](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1lyNt5km8U)_ was a parody from the old, classic film _[The Treasure of the Sierra Madre](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqomZQMZQCQ)_. Still thought both were pretty funny on their own… ---
**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:** [February 18, 2016, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/22 "2016-02-18T21:15:38Z")
Similarly, Daffy Duck’s “The Scarlet Pumpernickel” is better known these days than the original Scarlet Pimpernel. ---
**Author:** ![journeyman\_southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5e9695/32.png) [@journeyman\_southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/journeyman_southpaw)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/23 "2016-02-18T21:25:30Z")
For many people of a certain age outside of Japan, _Sailor Moon_ was their introduction to anime - they wouldn’t have realized that it was conceived as a lighthearted parody of something (the Magical Girl genre). ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/24 "2016-02-18T21:30:03Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > The #1 movie in the country right now is DEADPOOL, aka Wade Wilson. > > How well-known is Deathstroke, aka Slade Wilson? Well, better known than he used to be - major character in the CW’s Arrow, which is a pretty big show. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/25 "2016-02-18T21:39:44Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Well, better known than he used to be - major character in the CW’s Arrow, which is a pretty big show. The Teen Titans cartoons also are not completely unknown ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/26 "2016-02-18T21:54:56Z")
_Don Quixote_ is arguably a parody, and rather obviously so, of the whole genre of chivalric romances, very popular in Cervantes’ time, less so today (who has read _Amadis of Gaul_?) The TV series [_Soap_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap_(TV_series)) was aired on Swedish television from 1978, before the broad public had any knowledge of the concept of soap opera. Nevertheless, it became very popular. I was one of the kids eagerly watching it, having no idea that it was actually a parody! ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/27 "2016-02-18T21:55:40Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > How many people have seen _Zero Hour_? I have. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/28 "2016-02-18T22:00:27Z")
Deteriorata : “You are a freak of the universe, you have no right to be here…” ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/29 "2016-02-18T22:01:32Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > TBH, Yankovic’s entire oeuvre is full of parodies better done and better known (or better remembered) than the originals. Which parodies of his would you say are better known than the originals? I’m not the biggest Weird Al fan, though I’d say I’m familiar with his biggest hits, and with the exception of “I Lost on Jeopardy!”, I don’t think I’d have any trouble naming the originals. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/30 "2016-02-18T22:27:03Z")
> [@planetcory](#): > > Parody being the original intention is debatable. But, yeah, Deadpool started life as a Deathstroke pastiche. Rob Liefeld comes up with a lot of pastiches. That’s mostly because he’s an untalented hack. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/31 "2016-02-18T23:23:33Z")
Quite a few people know Tom Lehrer’s song “The Elements” (it was featured on The Big Bang Theory, and Daniel Radcliffe sang it on a talk show), but few have probably heard the Danny Kaye routine, “Tchaikovsky,” it was parodying. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/32 "2016-02-18T23:58:48Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > Quite a few people know Tom Lehrer’s song “The Elements” (it was featured on The Big Bang Theory, and Daniel Radcliffe sang it on a talk show), but few have probably heard the Danny Kaye routine, “Tchaikovsky,” it was parodying. Really? It’s to the tune of _I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major General_, another patter song by Gilbert & Sullivan that appeared in _The Pirates of Penzance_. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/33 "2016-02-19T00:07:19Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > Really? It’s to the tune of _I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major General_, another patter song by Gilbert & Sullivan that appeared in _The Pirates of Penzance_. Danny Kaye [Tchaikovsky](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tchaikovsky_%28song%29) > [@](#): > > “Tschaikowsky (and Other Russians)” is not a song in the normal sense of the term:\*\* it is a rhyming list of fifty Russian composers’ names\*\*, which Kaye rattled off (in a speaking, not singing, voice) as rapidly as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/34 "2016-02-19T00:14:11Z")
Who’s more well known might be a split decision right now with the new tv series and the flop of the most recent movie, but many people aren’t aware that _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_ started out as a parody of _Daredevil_. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/35 "2016-02-19T00:16:18Z")
You sure you guys aren’t thinking of Tom Lehrer’s “Lobachevsky,” a parody of Danny Kaye’s song about Russian actor Constantin Stanislavski? Although I don’t think either of those are particularly well known. > **[Lobachevsky (song)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobachevsky_%28song%29)** > > "Lobachevsky" is a humorous song by Tom Lehrer, referring to the mathematician Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky. > According to Lehrer, the song is "not intended as a slur on \[Lobachevsky's\] character" and the name was chosen "solely for prosodic reasons". > In the introduction, Lehrer describes the song as an adaptation of a routine that Danny Kaye did to honor the Russian actor Constantin Stanislavski. (The Danny Kaye routine is sung from the perspective of a famous Russian actor who learns and appli... ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/36 "2016-02-19T00:40:42Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > George MacDonald Fraser’s _Flashman_ series is based on a character from Thomas Hughes’ book _Tom Brown’s School Days_ This surely counts. Even those of us who have read Fraser have surely no more than skimmed Hughes. Except that I’m not sure I’d describe Fraser as a “parody” of Hughes. The Flashman novels are more of an “anti-riff” on him rather than a detailed parody. Fraser was running with elements of Hughes, but, more importantly, was satirising other elements of Victorian culture. Hughes was only the starting point. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/37 "2016-02-19T00:49:30Z")
> [@h.sapiens](#): > > I’ve seen it once on TCM, and I was really amused at how close some of the dialog in “Airplane!” was to the original. Even the hero’s name, Ted Stryker, is the same except for the spelling. You can watch this scene by scene cmparison of the two films here, “Zero hour” and “Airplane!” https://www.youtube.com/embed/dO90hdkeKrs?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&list=FLkKiDfuotcMiliNjptWCnsg ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/38 "2016-02-19T01:09:43Z")
_Northanger Abbey_ is in part a parody of Gothic novels. It isn’t Jane Austen’s most famous work, but it’s probably more famous than the novels it parodies, like _The Castle of Otranto_ (1764) by Horace Walpole and _The Mysteries of Udolpho_ (1794) by Ann Radcliffe. ---
**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:** [February 19, 2016, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/39 "2016-02-19T01:14:25Z")
[Weird Al to George Harrison](https://youtu.be/TetlDTcqx6Q?t=59): “You know, I do song parodies, but you’ve been doing them a lot longer, haven’t you? I mean, didn’t you do that great parody of ‘He’s So Fine’?” ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/40 "2016-02-19T01:44:20Z")
For a long time I would have said Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but I realize Daredevil is increasing in popularity. Still more famous than the gritty comics they were parodying, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465.md?page=3)