Yes, because reality continues. If Hillary Clinton was a human woman yesterday, she will be a human woman tomorrow. If there is a news article stating that she has changed gender, I would expect to see her listed as a man later and references to the sex change.
Parodies aren’t reality. They’re absurd on purpose. If you expect accuracy and consistency, you don’t understand the point of parody.
No, I’m saying that if Onion news stories are “real news stories” as Voyager said, then they would be like the real real news and continue the story of their own reality. They don’t do that, so the statement that it’s “real news” was factually incorrect. I have no issue with that aspect, one way or the other, I was just pointing out an inaccuracy in Voyager’s claim.
Flight of the Conchords does it for me. Beautiful parodying of different musical styles and sit-com tropes, and a short run so it never had to mine B material.
All the answers above seem to be pointing towards a simple formula: familiar subject + insightful manipulation to highlight something you hadn’t seen in the original + a few good stand-alone jokes to keep you going.
In Life of Brian we get: Bible stories + Brian as ‘what if Jesus had to deal with modern Christians’ + Biggus Dickus. Comedy gold!
Is this thread distinguishing between parody and satire? Like satire is not on the table? Colbert was parodying Bill O’Reilly sort of, but mostly creating the best satire too, I think.
Where is there a rule that a parody has to have a separate consistent universe like in DC comics?
Airplane had set ups and punchlines and humor. Scary Movie thought Marlon Wayons saying, “I see Dead People” was hilarious.
I’ll nominate Amy Schumer’s send-up of Twelve Angry Men as brilliant parody. She takes a ridiculous yet topical premise (a jury deciding if Amy Schumer is hot enough to have her own TV show), and turns the pivotal scenes from Twelve Angry Men on their ear. Very funny stuff.
Which shows that Kenney and Beard captured the essence of LOTR! Except shorter and less tedious.
Yeah, I know there’s a separate thread now. Sue me.
It’s a continuum. Parody lampoons a particular literary work or genre and points out its silly points.
Satire makes political points through exaggeration. One key is that a parodist is looking at the work as an outside observer, while a satirist takes on the persona of what he or she is against and takes it to extremes.
I’m digesting that last sentence. A parody is a take-off too. (As in “This is the Harvard Lampoon Playboy parody”) They are both in the nature of a sarcastic echoing or impersonation, no? How could you parody and not satirize would be my question.
The contrarian in me wanted to find examples of funny parodies that don’t go beyond surface level details or simple exaggeration. How about SNL’s Dear Sister sketch?
yeah Its hard to say Thats satire. Satire has something to live up to, a moral. Its highbrow, Where Parody can be reductio for the laugh.
But I bet this could be batted around here forever.
I would say the Onion goes back and forth between satire and parody, depending on the article. The articles that report with breathless journalistic enthusiasm over mundane events (“Local Family Enters Crisis Talks After Restaurant Announces 45 Minute Wait For Table”) would be parody. Articles that involve political figures I would more consider satire, as they are written seriously as if the absurd event had really happened, and the point of the article is to advance a particular political point of view.
The difference between parody and satire is that parody does everything satire does, and is also funny.
I would say that a really good parody will show the foibles and the weaknesses of the original material while at the same time showing appreciation of what is good in the original. With the addition of standalone jokes and general humor to keep the whole thing going, obviously.
In my opinion one of the best (if not the best) parodies ever crafted was “Galaxy Quest” – sending up “Star Trek” while at the same time showing deep affection for the whole phenomenon.
Just my personal opinion, of course 
Airplane is a remake of Zero Hour. (Which I assume is what you’re referring to–just providing context for those who might not know.)
ETA: By the way, does the linked video sound extremely quiet even with all volume settings turned all the way up for everyone?
I’ll agree with that, but I’d put Shaun of the Dead up alongside it for the Zombie genre.
And I’d add Hot Fuzz for the action/cop-buddy movie.
When **Voyager **said Onion stories are real news stories on their own, I’m pretty sure he meant they read like real stories. There’s been numerous occasions where their joke stories were mistaken for the real thing, because they’re usually written like bland factual accounts.