# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/81 "2016-02-20T00:17:25Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > I was going to mention this. More broadly, there are many, many cartoon characters who are based on live-action characters or real people, and many are probably better known than the originals. These mostly fall more into the category of tributes or ripoffs than parodies, however. For me personally, I saw Bugs Bunny doing Liberace waaaay before I saw Liberace. And I had no idea the Mad Scientist (BOO!) was supposed to be Peter Lorre until I saw _Casablanca_ much, much later. Also, I had no idea Foghorn Leghorn was supposed to be parodying anybody until about 60 seconds ago. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/82 "2016-02-20T04:04:50Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > For me personally, I saw Bugs Bunny doing Liberace waaaay before I saw Liberace. And I had no idea the Mad Scientist (BOO!) was supposed to be Peter Lorre until I saw _Casablanca_ much, much later. > > Also, I had no idea Foghorn Leghorn was supposed to be parodying anybody until about 60 seconds ago. Help me out here. Liberace was the first concert I’ve ever seen. (I think I was in fourth or fifth grade and I begged my dad to get tickets to the show. Only time I ever remember going to any sort of musical performance with either of my parents.) Which Bugs Bunny skits are Liberace parodies? And who is Foghorn Leghorn parodying? Or am I being wooshed here? ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/83 "2016-02-20T04:19:41Z")
It’s an entirely different kind of movie. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/84 "2016-02-20T04:25:41Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Help me out here. Liberace was the first concert I’ve ever seen. (I think I was in fourth or fifth grade and I begged my dad to get tickets to the show. Only time I ever remember going to any sort of musical performance with either of my parents.) Which Bugs Bunny skits are Liberace parodies? > > And who is Foghorn Leghorn parodying? > > Or am I being wooshed here? For Leghorn, see post 52… ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/85 "2016-02-20T04:32:22Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Help me out here. Liberace was the first concert I’ve ever seen. (I think I was in fourth or fifth grade and I begged my dad to get tickets to the show. Only time I ever remember going to any sort of musical performance with either of my parents.) Which Bugs Bunny skits are Liberace parodies? [ > [@](#): > > And who is Foghorn Leghorn parodying? > > Or am I being wooshed here? I was referring to Penfeather’s [url="[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19113752&postcount=52](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19113752&postcount=52)]post 52]([https://youtu.be/dcqmvGVH9c0](https://youtu.be/dcqmvGVH9c0)"Like this?[/url). ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/86 "2016-02-20T06:34:56Z")
While not parodies, my introduction to classical music was Disney’s Fantasia. I see hordes of dancing mops on hearing. The 1812 Overture - the bang part - triggers, " Quaker’s Puffed Rice, shot from guns", in my shrinking pool of neurons. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/87 "2016-02-20T17:29:01Z")
Fixed my [link](https://youtu.be/dcqmvGVH9c0) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/88 "2016-02-20T19:55:58Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Fixed my [link](https://youtu.be/dcqmvGVH9c0) Yep, definitely Liberace. Somehow, I don’t ever remember seeing that episode, and I thought I saw them all. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![slitterst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecc23a/32.png) [@slitterst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slitterst)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/89 "2016-02-20T22:40:03Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > That’s understandable; it’s an entirely different kind of movie altogether. It’s an entirely different kind of movie. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2016, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/90 "2016-02-21T09:48:04Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I have my doubts when looking at the box office numbers for _GWTW_, including its several re-releases when it was making more money than many new films. The Carol Burnett sketch was shortly after _GWTW_ was televised for the first time in 1976, which made _GWTW_ available to people who hadn’t been born when it was first released. > > Possibly now that much of the original 1939 audience has died off, Carol Burnett might be getting close, but it’s not a sure thing. Worldwide, it might be a conservative guess that ~400 million people saw _GWTW_. Give it another few decades for old age to thin out that number a little more. If you’re considering a worldwide audience, then there’s no contest: GWTW is a classic film that’s shown on TV fairly often, and Carol Burnett is practically unknown outside North America. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2016, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/91 "2016-02-21T11:30:07Z")
The Energizer Bunny was originally a parody/mockery of a very similar (and long-forgotten) Duracell commercial. > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > > [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > > > Would Quiet Riot’s cover of Slade’s _Cum On Feel the Noize_ fall under the definition of a parody? > > Not really. For one thing, that story is largely bullshit. They probably did hate the idea of covering the song, but Banali’s claim that the record is the very first take can’t possibly be true. Why would they lie? Lots of songs have been recorded in a single take. And it happens to be kind of song (like “Wild Thing”) that sounds better the worse you play it. Also, Metallica never lied about Diamond Head cover songs being their own. They’ve always been very upfront about how their style was inspired by the NWOBHM scene. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2016, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/92 "2016-02-21T13:39:15Z")
Blazing Saddles is partly a parody of [Destry Rides Again](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destry_Rides_Again). In particular, the “Teutonic Titwillow” = Marlene Dietrich. Also, I’ll bet that more people today know \*Hedly \*Lamarr than know Hedy. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2016, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/93 "2016-02-21T19:12:35Z")
I’ll bet more people have read Poe’s “The Raven” in the \*Mad \* version, accompanied by Bill Elder’s bizarre illustrations, than have read it in some stodgy anthology. And the parody didn’t change a word of Poe’s work. Stan Freberg’s “Banana Boat” song probably got to be more famous than Harry Belafonte’s original. In fact, when Freberg’s version was played on the radio, I thought Belafonte was performing!🆒 ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2016, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/94 "2016-02-21T19:19:53Z")
I thought Dr. Strangelove was a parody of the movie “Fail Safe” but apparently it’s actually a parody of the novel “Red Alert.” Either way, I bet more people have heard of "Dr. Strangelove than either of the other two stories. I’d consider Sailor Moon to be more of a pastiche than a parody but it’s definitely a lot more well known than any of the other magical girl cartoons that came before it. ---
**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 21, 2016, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/95 "2016-02-21T19:21:35Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > I’ll bet more people have read Poe’s “The Raven” in the \*Mad \* version, accompanied by Bill Elder’s bizarre illustrations, than have read it in some stodgy anthology. And the parody didn’t change a word of Poe’s work. I dunno about that. I read the MAD version when it got included as a bonus in one of the Special Issues I had as a kid, long after it had originally appeared. Where would most people have encountered it? On the other hand, isn’t the poem still printed pretty regularly in school literature textbooks? Probably the _Simpsons_ version is more familiar than MAD’s. ---
**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 21, 2016, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/96 "2016-02-21T19:35:18Z")
A part of the Marx Brothers’ _Animal Crackers_ is a direct parody of Eugene O’Neill’s play _Strange Interlude_. Groucho even has the line “Pardon me while I have a strange interlude.” I don’t think the O’Neill play is as well known these days. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2016, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/97 "2016-02-21T21:04:24Z")
Alan Sherman’s songs are better-known to one generation of kids than the classical pieces they parody (“Hello Fadduh, Hello Muddah” et al), but that was an isolated, localized effect. Similarly, to the generation for whom _The Lone Ranger_ was a thing, the theme song is better known for that than for _William Tell_. “It’s Now or Never” isn’t exactly a parody of “O Sole Mio,” but it’s probably better-known in America. I guess we could do a whole separate thread on popular music pieces that appropriated a well-known classical tune. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2016, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/98 "2016-02-21T21:28:01Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > And the parody didn’t change a word of Poe’s work. 😕 Then it’s not a parody. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2016, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/99 "2016-02-21T21:44:59Z")
> [@erysichthon](#): > > 😕 Then it’s not a parody. See here and judge for yourself PDF warning > **[MadMag%20Raven.pdf](https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~cavitch/pdf-library/MadMag%20Raven.pdf)** > > 4.16 MB ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2016, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465/100 "2016-02-21T21:55:59Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > See here and judge for yourself > > PDF warning > > [http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~cavitch/pdf-library/MadMag%20Raven.pdf](http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~cavitch/pdf-library/MadMag%20Raven.pdf) You might want to look up the definition of “parody.” Printing a famous poem with funny illustrations isn’t parody. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-the-parody-are-more-well-known-than-the-original/746465.md?page=6)