I don’t know if this counts as parody, but I can quote every early 80’s comedy movie word for word, not because I ever saw them, but because the dirty kid on the school bus used to recite them daily. Police Academy, Caddyshack, etc. Later on at band practice, I’d get a similar treatment with Monty Python from the older band nerds.
I hear the originals are much better, but honestly I don’t think I could stomach them at this point except to see whether the boobs are as huge as described.
Good one!
That’s me as well.
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.
Vincent Price and various other old time actors, I have little or no knowledge of save for their parodies in Bugs Bunny cartoon.
Burma shave, as mentioned.
I only know anything of Pokemon from noticing all of the Pokemon porn that’s out there, and from parodies like this.
I used to only know of the Godfather from things like “The Simpsons” till about last year.
Citizen Kane, Planet of the Apes, most things Charlton Heston was in, Ayn Rand, also Eurivision (know about it from “Father Ted” though).
My first acquaintance with Firefly/Serenity was from watching a parody play by The Usual Suspects at Balticon. It was not only a good intro to the show, it was very funny even if you knew nothing about the show.
I knew most of the Dracula saga from parodies, random quotes and cartoons before I ever read the novel, which turned out to be very unlike the pop-culture version. I still haven’t seen the Bela Lugosi movie, which did more than the book to shape the pop culture.
As soon as I thread the thread title, Mad’s version of The French Connection is the first thing that popped into my mind. Spooky.
“It’s only University Challenge, Rick! It’s only University Challenge!”
It wasn’t until years later that I learned that what was being parodied was a real show. Or that Alan Whicker wasn’t invented from whole cloth by the Pythons.
Oops; this was actually a quote of GargoyleWB, but somehow it got stuck in my main post.
The Phantom of the Opera. I went as him for Halloween when I was 7 years old or so, I have still never actually seen it, but I think at the time I was just delighted to figure out where all those cartoon references came from.
I make it a point to play a lot of retro games, but a few, such as the older Metal Gear 2 I know exclusively from Let’s Plays like this:
http://www.slowbeef.com/MG2/
(warning: long, yet very funny).
I also know Resident Evil 4 exclusively from a goldmined (archived) Let’s Play on the (of course) SA forums. I don’t frequent Something Awful, but I get linked now and then when they’re really funny.
Also until I was bored for a bit and decided to check it out (note: not recommended) I only knew 4chan/anon (and by extension, /b/) through parody and reference to them. Now I wish I had kept it that way.
There’s a ton of older (relative to me) stuff that I first encountered that way, mostly through the Simpsons, but since then I’ve tried to see all that old stuff before I see it parodied. Obviously that’s impossible…
I’ve never seen a John Wayne movie, at least not that I can remember. I haven’t read any Ayn Rand - well, beyond the first few pages of The Fountainhead, which didn’t interest me - and I’ve only read about half of Moby Dick. I haven’t read the whole Bible either, but I think I know most of the famous stories at least. I’ve never read any Jane Austen- seen parts of some Austen-based movies, though. I’m familiar with some of Freud’s theories but I’ve never read his work.
this thread is Oveur
Most of the celebrities lampooned in old Warner Brothers cartoons are still icons, or at least still recognizable today. I’m guessing even most kids are familiar with Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney and Bing Crosby.
But I’m 47, and I’ve never seen the real, flesh-and-blood Jerry Colonna in anything. I’ve seen caricatures of Colonna in dozens of cartoons (the enormous mustache, the exaggerated, “Ahhhh yesssss! Greetings!”), but I have no idea if those caricatures are accurate.
Also, I’ve heard Cheech & Chong’s “Basketball Jones” numerous times, but still have never heard “Love Jones,” the Seventies soul song it was supposed to be spoofing.
I was about to say, “I do!” until I realized I’m not a young people anymore. 
Roger, Roger.
I don’t think the former is a reference to the latter. They’re both just patter songs.
They’re sung to the same tune, so I would say it was a reference.
I’ll have to re-listen to the Lehrer song. They don’t sound identical in my head.
Like Yllaria, I’m coming at it from the opposite side as the current music passes me by and the only version I hear is Weird Al’s (I still think Gump makes a lot more sense than Lump).
From my own youth, more than anyone else Edward G. Robinson and Peter Lorre are familiar to me as Bugs Bunny parodies. I could recognize their faces and voices instantly despite never having watched any of their films.
In the live version, he mentions that it is to a possibly recognizable tune, so it’s definitely the Major General’s song.