# What pop culture do you only know of from parody? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 1, 2008, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pop-culture-do-you-only-know-of-from-parody/454899 "2008-07-01T14:11:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pop-culture-do-you-only-know-of-from-parody/454899/21 "2008-07-01T17:09:19Z")
So many of the US comedies that everyone takes for granted over here… I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, Gilligan’s Island etc. Never seen any of them. I also saw the Brady Bunch Movie on HBO without ever having seen an episode of the actual show. ---
**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:** [July 1, 2008, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pop-culture-do-you-only-know-of-from-parody/454899/22 "2008-07-01T17:40:44Z")
50s[The Continental](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0294036/), an actual TV show circa 1952, inspired a MAD magazine parody and a recurring SNL character. Guess which versions I’m familiar with. ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pop-culture-do-you-only-know-of-from-parody/454899/23 "2008-07-01T17:43:43Z")
I have never seen \*Airport \* or \*Zero Hour \* or any of those disaster movies. I can damn near quote every line of dialogue from _Airplane!_ though. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pop-culture-do-you-only-know-of-from-parody/454899/24 "2008-07-01T17:47:24Z")
I eventually got into Conan through the parody Groo the Wanderer. ---
**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:** [July 1, 2008, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pop-culture-do-you-only-know-of-from-parody/454899/25 "2008-07-01T17:55:46Z")
When I was a kid, there were numerous movies that I only knew about from reading the satirizations in _Mad_ magazine. Many of the poems in Lewis Carroll’s Alice books are parodies that have long outlived the originals that they were parodying. ---
**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:** [July 1, 2008, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pop-culture-do-you-only-know-of-from-parody/454899/26 "2008-07-01T18:23:12Z")
The Simpsons. For every one I’m proud of myself for getting, (Bart reaching for the “cupcakes” ala A Clockwork Orange), there’s several that go right past me (Milhouse when Toys R Us is shut down mimicking the expression of the [Frenchman crying](http://forums.joeuser.com/14992) as Hitler invades Paris) ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pop-culture-do-you-only-know-of-from-parody/454899/27 "2008-07-01T18:28:26Z")
\*Their origin that I did miss only know 'em spoofed like this Burma Shave\* ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pop-culture-do-you-only-know-of-from-parody/454899/28 "2008-07-01T18:29:56Z")
[QUOTE=ArizonaTeach] I have never seen \*Airport \* or \*Zero Hour \* or any of those disaster movies. [/QUOTE] Speaking of Zero, I’ve never played the game Zero Wing. I only know it from AYBAB2U. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pop-culture-do-you-only-know-of-from-parody/454899/29 "2008-07-01T19:10:02Z")
I am familiar with the works of Pablo Neruda. Oh, no, wait, I’m not. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pop-culture-do-you-only-know-of-from-parody/454899/30 "2008-07-01T19:14:37Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] Speaking of Zero, I’ve never played the game Zero Wing. I only know it from AYBAB2U. [/QUOTE] Very few Americans ever did. It was never released as a home game here. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pop-culture-do-you-only-know-of-from-parody/454899/31 "2008-07-01T19:16:36Z")
Most of the satires/parodies on SNL and other sketch comedy shows are usually of people or shows I’ve never seen. Joe Franklin, for instance. When I was a kid, I wasn’t allowed to listen to much current music (a school thing, not a family restriction), but I was a huge Weird Al Yankovic fan… so most of his parodies were, to me, just funny songs, and it wasn’t until years later that I began hearing the originals. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pop-culture-do-you-only-know-of-from-parody/454899/32 "2008-07-01T19:19:22Z")
[QUOTE=Simplicio] Also, I finally saw Casablanca for the first time a few years ago, and it was a surreal experience, as I was familiar with almost every scene from having seen them each parodied so many times, despite having never watched the actual movie. Like having a weird sort of deja-vu [/QUOTE] Especially in the final scenes, where every other line is a famous quotation. ---
**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pop-culture-do-you-only-know-of-from-parody/454899/33 "2008-07-01T19:26:45Z")
I was in the hospital recovering from mono when I was 18 (back in 1980) and while there I saw Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood on TV for the first time ever. I had only seen Eddie Murphy do the parody on SNL prior to that. I remember laughing uncontrollably when I saw Mr. Rogers that day. The nurses thought I was insane. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pop-culture-do-you-only-know-of-from-parody/454899/34 "2008-07-01T19:32:52Z")
I know _American Idol_ only from parodies. ---
**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:** [July 1, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pop-culture-do-you-only-know-of-from-parody/454899/35 "2008-07-01T19:39:56Z")
[QUOTE=Krokodil] 50s[The Continental](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0294036/), an actual TV show circa 1952, inspired a MAD magazine parody and a recurring SNL character. Guess which versions I’m familiar with. [/QUOTE] It was also spoofed in a Popeye cartoon which is how I first became aware of it. This one is old and mostly known only by scholars of Mark Twain and bad Victorian-era poetry but during the Grangerford-Shepardson episode of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the Grangerfords proudly show Huck some of the death-obsessed drawings and maudlin poetry done by their now-deceased daughter, Emmeline. Although modern first-time readers may view Emmeline as some sort of Goth precursor, she is actually a lampoon of the once-popular but now-forgotten poet, [Julia A. Moore](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_A._Moore) whose work was similarly morbid and maudlin and whom Twain detested. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pop-culture-do-you-only-know-of-from-parody/454899/36 "2008-07-01T20:52:15Z")
I only know Ayn Rand from the various parodies and homages…The Simpsons (Maggie’s great escape), Bioshock, eavesdropping in coffeehouses. I’ve gone as far as reading critiques and summaries of her works and views, but have never felt it worthwhile to churn through her books. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pop-culture-do-you-only-know-of-from-parody/454899/37 "2008-07-01T20:57:03Z")
[QUOTE=ArizonaTeach] I have never seen \*Airport \* or \*Zero Hour \* or any of those disaster movies. I can damn near quote every line of dialogue from _Airplane!_ though. [/QUOTE] Surely you can’t be serious! ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pop-culture-do-you-only-know-of-from-parody/454899/38 "2008-07-01T21:09:40Z")
I first heard Tom Lehrer’s “Lobachevsky” decades ago, but it was only recently that I heard “Stanislavsky”, the Danny Kaye routine it’s based on. I forget whether I had heard Tom’s “The Elements” before I had heard the Major-General’s song from “The Pirates of Penzance”. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pop-culture-do-you-only-know-of-from-parody/454899/39 "2008-07-01T22:05:21Z")
[QUOTE=Student Driver] . . . When I was a kid, I wasn’t allowed to listen to much current music (a school thing, not a family restriction), but I was a huge Weird Al Yankovic fan… so most of his parodies were, to me, just funny songs, and it wasn’t until years later that I began hearing the originals. [/QUOTE] Now I’m getting old enough that I’m experiencing the same thing, 'cause I’m just not keeping up with the new music. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pop-culture-do-you-only-know-of-from-parody/454899/40 "2008-07-01T22:07:52Z")
[QUOTE=Weirddave] Surely you can’t be serious! [/QUOTE] Sounds serious to me. And don’t call him Shirley. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pop-culture-do-you-only-know-of-from-parody/454899.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-pop-culture-do-you-only-know-of-from-parody/454899.md?page=3)