# parodies more famous than the original **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 4, 2007, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parodies-more-famous-than-the-original/402785 "2007-05-04T18:31:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parodies-more-famous-than-the-original/402785/21 "2007-05-04T23:19:10Z")
[QUOTE=Telemark] Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was a parody of the then current trend in comic books. [/QUOTE] Which trend was that? ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parodies-more-famous-than-the-original/402785/22 "2007-05-04T23:24:38Z")
[QUOTE=Miller] Which trend was that? [/QUOTE] Mutant superheroes, inspired by _X-Men_ and the like. Chuck Jones once wrote that the Coyote-Roadrunner cartoons were meant to be parodies of the typical “something chases something else” cartoon idea (Tom & Jerry, etc.) They intentionally chose the most unusual animals. However, people liked it so much they decided to play it straight. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parodies-more-famous-than-the-original/402785/23 "2007-05-04T23:45:12Z")
People are probably more familiar with Cheech and Chong’s “Basketball Jones” than the song it parodies: “Love Jones”. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parodies-more-famous-than-the-original/402785/24 "2007-05-05T00:03:29Z")
Okay, not _more_ famous than the original, but we must add to the record of famous parodies: Bored of the Rings, by the Harvard Lampoon staff ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parodies-more-famous-than-the-original/402785/25 "2007-05-05T00:23:55Z")
[Elvira](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassandra_Peterson) is much better known than [Vampira](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampira). ---
**Author:** ![Danalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@Danalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danalan)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parodies-more-famous-than-the-original/402785/26 "2007-05-05T00:26:38Z")
[The Cannonball Run](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082136/) has been seen by more people than [The Gumball Rally](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074597/), although they both have entered into the popular culture about equally. ---
**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:** [May 5, 2007, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parodies-more-famous-than-the-original/402785/27 "2007-05-05T00:28:36Z")
> [@](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by Miller > Which trend was that? > > Mutant superheroes, inspired by X-Men and the like. Well, except that TMNT isn’t better know than X-Men. And since the X-Men had been running since 1963, I’m not sure you could call TMNT (which came out in the 80s) a parody of a “then-current trend”. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parodies-more-famous-than-the-original/402785/28 "2007-05-05T00:56:27Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] “Speak roughly to your little boy And beat him when he sneezes” [/QUOTE] He only does it to annoy. Because he knows it pleases. I was amazed to find out how much of Lewis Carroll was based on insipid Vicotorian shite. > [@](#): > > He also parodied “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” so much so that some versions of it contain one of his lines – “Like a teatray in the sky” instead of the correct version. It is of course “little bat” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parodies-more-famous-than-the-original/402785/29 "2007-05-05T01:19:50Z")
[QUOTE=WordMan] Or, back in the day, there was automatic Cary Grant saying: [Cary Grant] Judy, Judy, Judy [/CG] The only problem was the Cary never said it - it was the comedian Larry Storch, who said he liked the way the word sounded when he was trying to get his Cary accent ready, so he kept using it… [/QUOTE] I have been hearing bad Cary Grant imitations for over a half century, and this is the first time I knew where it came from. Thank you for fighting my ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parodies-more-famous-than-the-original/402785/30 "2007-05-05T02:01:39Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] Well, except that TMNT isn’t better know than X-Men. And since the X-Men had been running since 1963, I’m not sure you could call TMNT (which came out in the 80s) a parody of a “then-current trend”. [/QUOTE] From here: [Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Mirage Studios) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_Turtles_(Mirage_comics)) > [@](#): > > Using money from a tax refund together with a loan from Eastman’s uncle, they formed Mirage Studios and self-published a single-issue comic book that would parody four popular comics of the early 1980s: Marvel Comics’ The New Mutants, which featured teenage mutants, Cerebus, Ronin, and Daredevil, which featured ninja clans dueling for control of the New York City underworld ,.[1] In fact, many comics fans will recognize in the Turtles’ origin several direct allusions to Daredevil: The traffic accident, involving a blind man and a truck carrying radioactive waste, is a reference to Daredevil’s own origin story. The name “Splinter” is a parody on Daredevil’s mentor, a man known as “Stick.” The Foot, a clan of evil ninja who became the Turtles’ arch-enemies, is a parody of the Hand, who were themselves a mysterious and deadly ninja clan in the pages of Daredevil. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parodies-more-famous-than-the-original/402785/31 "2007-05-05T02:02:45Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] I grew up watching parodies of performers in Warner Brother cartoons when I hadn’t seen the originals. There are others I’ve seen more of in the cartoons than elsewhere. Dame Edna Oliver, Joe Penner, lots of others I’ve either forgotten the names of, or never knew the names of. [/QUOTE] Same here. The first time I saw a scene with Vincent Price, my reaction was, “Hey, it’s that guy from those Bugs Bunny cartoons !” > [@mobo85](#): > > > [@Miller](#): > > > > Which trend was that? > > Mutant superheroes, inspired by X-Men and the like. Mutants, teenagers, ninjas, superheros, thus the name. It’s if anything more a parady of _Daredevil_ than _X-Men_; they got their powers from the same source as him, IIRC, and Splinter is a parody of Daredevil mentor Stick. I wouldn’t be surprised if Splinter’s more famous. ---
**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:** [May 5, 2007, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parodies-more-famous-than-the-original/402785/32 "2007-05-05T03:10:04Z")
There were a lot of Monty Python references to intellectual works that most people have probably never read. More people have probably seen Mel Brooks’ _Young Frankenstein_ than James Whale’s _Frankenstein_. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parodies-more-famous-than-the-original/402785/33 "2007-05-05T05:13:40Z")
Foghorn Leghorn far surpassed his original inspiration, [Senator Claghorn](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senator_Claghorn) ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parodies-more-famous-than-the-original/402785/34 "2007-05-05T05:40:45Z")
[QUOTE=Danalan] [The Cannonball Run](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082136/) has been seen by more people than [The Gumball Rally](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074597/), although they both have entered into the popular culture about equally. [/QUOTE] Except that _The Cannonball Run_ wasn’t a spoof of _The Gumball Rally_. They were both based on Brock Yates’ real life “Cannonball Run.” They are _very_ different in tone; “The Cannonball Run” was actually written and co-produced by Yates. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parodies-more-famous-than-the-original/402785/35 "2007-05-05T05:45:50Z")
Larry Flynt’s [Campari ad lampooning Jerry Falwell](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5d/Falwellhustler.jpg) is more well known than the original ad campaign, at least in some circles, mostly due to the fact that the [lawsuit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hustler_Magazine_v._Falwell) that resulted from it went to the Supreme Court. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parodies-more-famous-than-the-original/402785/36 "2007-05-05T13:51:21Z")
[Yakov Smirnoff](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=8539751&postcount=29) ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parodies-more-famous-than-the-original/402785/37 "2007-05-05T14:13:42Z")
[QUOTE=NDP] People are probably more familiar with Cheech and Chong’s “Basketball Jones” than the song it parodies: “Love Jones”. [/QUOTE] Count me in. And I heard the C&C when it first came out. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parodies-more-famous-than-the-original/402785/38 "2007-05-05T14:45:29Z")
[QUOTE=Loach] Dr Strangelove [/QUOTE] I didn’t know that was a parody. -FRL- ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parodies-more-famous-than-the-original/402785/39 "2007-05-05T16:29:33Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] I didn’t know that was a parody. -FRL- [/QUOTE] of a “Fail-Safe” type thriller titled “Red Alert”, by Peter George. I have the Ace PB. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2007, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parodies-more-famous-than-the-original/402785/40 "2007-05-05T16:33:58Z")
[QUOTE=Loach] Dr Strangelove [/QUOTE] Well, is this a parody of anything specific? It’s more of a satire of the culture at the time. 😕 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parodies-more-famous-than-the-original/402785.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parodies-more-famous-than-the-original/402785.md?page=3)