"Weird Al" Effect: Difference between revisions

When a parody remains popular after the original works being parodied are no longer well known to the audience.

Often, people who are only "familiar" with a work through the parody are surprised when the subject of the parody turns out to be [[Better Than It Sounds]].

{{examples}}

== Trope Namer ==

** Coolio was quite peeved about "Amish Paradise", for which Yankovic had obtained permission through official channels but not through Coolio himself. He felt that Weird Al's version [[Genre Savvy|trivialized]] the [[Foreshadowing|seriousness of the song.]]

** To further confuse matters, a lot of Al's original songs are "style parodies" where he parodies a band's/artist's musical style instead of a specific song. Because he does change the music a bit even with parodies, this leads to some thinking that these style parodies are a parody of a specific song. Examples follow:

** Similarly, ''[[Super Dimension Fortress Macross]]'' started as a deconstruction and parody of ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]''. Guess which one got immortalized across the pond in [[Robotech]]?

** The flip-side of this trope, when it comes to mecha anime, is the ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' game series, which have the effect of re-popularizing old, "out-of-print" series.

* The speech "Sometimes I'm a..." is closely associated with ''[[Cutey Honey]]'', so much so that the original source (Tarao Bannai) that Cutey Honey was parodying with that speech has been long forgotten

* Fandom example: At least on this wiki, it appears as if the use of the term "White Devil" [[Fan Nickname|in reference]] to [[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha|Nanoha Takamachi]] has almost completely eclipsed its original use as a ''canon'' nickname for [[Mobile Suit Gundam|the RX-78 and/or Amuro Ray]].

** Joe, Jack, William and Averell are supposed to be the Dalton ''cousins''. The "historical" Dalton ''brothers'' were featured (caricatured) in the album ''Outlaw'' which is probably [[My Real Daddy|forgotten because Goscinny didn't write it]], plus it's just one album vs. over 20, plus they were actually [[Killed Off for Real]] whereas Lucky Luke moved to [[Thou Shalt Not Kill]] a few albums later.

** There are others who may associate the Daltons as Dinky, Pinky, Stinky, etc. from ''Huckleberry Hound''.

** In Mexico, there's a wrestler known as Solomon Grundy, and we don't know about any rhyme, comic, or cartoon.

** The rhyme itself IS mentioned in the popular Batman series ''[[The Long Halloween]]''. It's also briefly referenced in ''[[Justice League]]''.

** He recently had a mini where each of the issue titles was a part of the rhyme.

* Many comic book fans didn't even realize that [[DC Comics]] had other characters besides Wesley Dodds and Morpheus who went by "[[The Sandman]]" until they saw Hector Hall make an ass of himself in volume 2 of [[Neil Gaiman]]'s celebrated series.

** In Thunderbolt's case, he isn't owned by DC anymore.

** And Peacemaker only very superficially resembled the Comedian, making any connection ridiculous on its face. (If they ever met, they would ''not'' get along.)

** In America anyway... Bonfire Night is still a well celebrated national holiday in the UK, and kids are taught about the history behind it in school.

** 'I see no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.' And, indeed, it hasn't been.

** For that matter, the English word "guy" is itself a reference to Guy Fawkes that has evolved over the centuries be used as reference for anyone, not just an effigy of the original Guy.

* [[Deadpool]] was originally conceived by [[Rob Liefeld]] as a rather blatant ripoff of [[DC Comics]] supervillain Deathstroke. [[My Real Daddy|Later writers]] took the character and [[Parody Retcon|revamped him into a parody]] to save Marvel some face. While Deathstroke still has a strong fan following, Deadpool has pretty eclipsed him in terms of popularity.

* Far more people know Arkham as the asylum populated by ''[[Batman]]'' villains than know it as one of [[Lovecraft Country|Lovecraft's fictional haunted towns in New England]].

** The prototype of the [[Bat Signal]] in ''[[The Bat]]'' was not used to strike fear into the hearts of criminals, but was a notorious criminal's [[Calling Card]] striking fear into the hearts of people staying in an [[Old Dark House]].

== [[Fanfic]] ==

== [[Film]] ==

** Or "[[Bawdy Song|Hitler Has Only Got One Ball]]".

** Or "Comet, it makes your teeth turn green..."

** Or "Mummy, I love the boy next door..."

** Or [[Salute Your Shorts|"Ug, one time his face turned blue...."]]

* The classic 1940s-era shorts by ''[[The Three Stooges]]'' were often parodies of contemporary films; the Stooges are still not as far off the current pop-culture radar as many of the movies they made fun of.

** In a similar case, it affected former third Stooge Joe Besser as well: While he was quite popular for various comedic roles during his time -- most notably his "whiny sissy" act that he carried over to his Stooge role -- today, he's known for ''nothing'' but being a replacement third Stooge (and a subpar one at that).

** At the time, ''Airplane!'' would have certainly been viewed as a parody of the '70s [[Disaster Movie|disaster film]] craze, specially the ''Airport'' series, which jump-started it. Which itself is pretty forgotten nowadays.

** ''Zero Hour!'' was itself based on a CBC television movie, ''Flight into Danger'', written by [[Arthur Hailey]], of ''Airport'' fame.

* In ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'', the villain Hedley Lamarr is always correcting people who call him "Hedy." There are fewer people today who know Hedy Lamarr than who know ''Blazing Saddles'' -- or who know Hedy LaRue in ''[[How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying]]'', a more direct takeoff on Lamarr.

** Except for those who remember her as one of Grampa's [[Running Gag|Running Gags]] from ''[[Hey Arnold]]''.

** The page quote for [[Retired Gunfighter]] is taken from a ''[[Twilight Zone]]'' episode. Said quote will be immediately familiar to any fan of Brooks' movie, as the Waco Kid's quote about his past is a very closely drawn parody of the (forgotten) original.

* The titular character of ''[[Dr. Strangelove]]'' (played by Peter Sellers) was a memorable wheelchair-bound (usually) ex-Nazi scientist with an [[Evil Hand]]. Most people who see the movie nowadays don't realize that the ex-Nazi scientist was a stock character in the 50's.

** Dr. Everett Scott from ''[[The Rocky Horror Picture Show]]'' is also a parody of this archetype, and being wheelchair-bound is a definite homage to Kubrick.

** ''Dr. Strangelove'' is now far more famous and popular then the nuclear holocaust movies it parodied.

** It is an adaptation of the now long forgotten ''dramatic'' Peter George novel ''Red Alert''.

** [[Austin Powers]], however, gets credit for quite a bit that it lifted from ''[[Casino Royale 1967]]'' (unless ''[[Casino Royale 1967]]'' lifted them from ''[[Our Man Flint]]'', from which [[Austin Powers]] also borrowed heavily). For comparison, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upMtEJSj9NA you can now legally watch the original on YouTube]. Yes, ''that's'' why Austin has an obsession with Burt Bacharach.

** While the ''Austin Powers'' series at large hasn't quite overcome James Bond, despite a surprisingly strong effort, Austin's nemesis, Dr. Evil, Mike Meyers doing an overblown Lorne Michaels impression, seems to have cleanly outstripped Blofeld (whom ''he'' is based on) for popularity.

* Try showing some German expressionist movies to someone who isn't already familiar with the genre, and see how long it takes for them to mention [[Tim Burton]].

* One wonders how many modern fans know that "Ann-Margrock" in the ''[[The Flintstones]]'' was named after the actress Ann-Margaret.

** Honestly, this and other "[[Ink Suit Actor|special guest voice]]" [[Punny Name|Punny Names]] were a constant source of confusion for kids who grew up with endless ''Flintstones'' reruns.

* While not a parody, Robert DeNiro's famous "[[You Talkin' to Me?]]?" line from ''[[Taxi Driver]]'' was a reference to the 1953 Western ''[[Shane]]'', where the titular character is called out.

{{quote| '''Shane''': You speakin' to me?<br />

'''Chris Calloway''': I don't see nobody else standin' there. }}

** For some, it's hard to see the ''LOVE/HATE'' tattoos and NOT think of [[Rocky Horror Picture Show|Eddie]].

** The four fingered Sideshow Bob had "LUV" on one and "HĀT" on the other in one episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]''.

* ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' and other parody series have featured ''[[Kill Bill]]'' parodies centering around Uma Thurman's yellow jumpsuit, which was itself a homage to ''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077594/ Game of Death]''. But many younger fans of ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' were likely unaware of that.

* ''[[Pulp Fiction]]'' contains another iconic example in Jules' quoting of a (rather heavily modified) passage from Ezekiel. This is in fact a fairly overt reference to Sonny Chiba's character in ''The Bodyguard''.

** Double that for the theme tunes. Most people will recognise the ''Great Escape'' theme or the ''[[Dam Busters]]'' match, but have no idea what film the music is from.

** [[The Great Escape]] gets a bit more recognition in the UK, what with it having being a Christmas Tradition for many years.

** A few know the novel, though.

*** How many of those people have seen the posters or {{[http|//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over_There heard the song}} the novel deconstructs?

** Most people also fail to realize that the name "Rura Penthe" was actually taken from a prison camp mentioned in Disney's 1954 film [[Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea]] which sadly is not very well known nowadys even by those who claim to be hardcore Disney fans. It's a shame because it's probably one of Disney's greatest films.

*** [[Finding Nemo]] also alluded to this film on two fronts, neither of which are likely to be recognized by most modern viewers. The first is that Nemo was named after one of the main characters in the film played by one other than [[James Mason]]. The second? You remember [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Le13by2WM70 that song the Moonfish sing while impersonating a ship] (happens at 0:41)? That was [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfiQAvvmXvc originally performed by Kirk Douglas].

** There's also an entire subset of the population who refers to it as [[Professional Wrestling|"oh hey, isn't that]] [[Ric Flair]]'s [[Professional Wrestling|entrance music?"]].

{{quote| "In this film, [[Elizabeth Taylor]] does an exaggerated impression of [[Bette Davis]] saying a line from ''Beyond the Forest'' (1949): 'What a dump!' In an interview with Barbara Walters, Bette Davis said that in the film, she really did not deliver the line in such an exaggerated manner. She said it in a more subtle, low-key manner, but it has passed into legend that she said it the way Elizabeth Taylor's delivered it in this film. During the Barbara Walters interview, the clip of Bette Davis delivering the line from ''Beyond the Forest'' was shown to prove that Davis was correct. However, since people expected Bette Davis to deliver the line the way Elizabeth Taylor had, she always opened her in-person, one woman show by saying the line in a campy, exaggerated manner: 'WHAT ... A... DUMP!!!' It always brought down the house. 'I imitated the imitators,' Davis said."}}

** Actually, when Elizabeth Taylor first walks into the house, and her character spontaneously says "What a dump," her delivery is just like Bette Davis's. It's only after she asks her husband where the line is from, and repeats it several times that she exaggerates it. She escalates both her nagging and her delivery, and in fact, isn't really attempting to accurately imitate Bette Davis in the first place.

* Many of the movies and cultural references mentioned in ''[[The Rocky Horror Picture Show]]'' opening song "Science Fiction Double Feature" (as well as references throughout) are completely lost on the younger fans of RHPS.

* ''[[Full Metal Jacket]]'': Mention the name "Gomer Pyle" to someone. A younger person will probably think of " {{spoiler|the fat Marine recruit who blows his brains out}}" instead of "the gas station worker from ''[[The Andy Griffith Show]]'' who got a spin off sitcom where he was in the Marines" (Which is where the name came from and why Gunny Hartman gives it to him).

* Probably more people nowadays recognize "Heeeeeere's Johnny!" as something [[Jack Nicholson]] said in ''[[The Shining]]'' than as Ed McMahon's introduction of Johnny Carson on ''[[The Tonight Show]]''.

* The call and response "You remind me of the babe (what babe?)" isn't originally from ''[[Labyrinth]]'', but instead references the 1947 [[Cary Grant]] film ''Bachelor Knight'' (apparently originally named ''The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer''!)

* [[I Can See My House From Here]] most likely didn't originate from [[Hot Shots]]. But, good luck finding someone who knows where it '''did''' come from...

== [[Literature]] ==

** Speaking of Southey, his poem "The Battle of Blenheim" originated the familiar album cover trope of the kid playing innocently with a skull.

** And few modern readers of ''Through the Looking-Glass'' would know the tune the White Knight's "A-Sitting on a Gate" is supposed to be sung to, even though Alice points out that "the tune ''isn't'' his own invention."

*** In a similar vein, several words (for instance, "chortle") were completely invented by Carrol and yet very few even know that they were once considered nonsense.

** Check out the wonderful book "Annotated Alice" where famed (and recently late) mathemagician Martin Gardner takes the time to annotate virtually ''every'' cultural reference made. Suffice to say there are at least as many words in the annotations as there are in the original stories.

*** One particularly in-depth aside takes up [[Beyond the Impossible|a full two-page spread, written in 8-point font. In a large-format hardback.]]

** ''Through the Looking-Glass'' has a nice example. ''The Walrus and the Carpenter'', the poem sung by the twins, is a parody of ''The Dream of Eugene Aram'', which is about an elementary school teacher who is convicted of murder.

** The Mad Hatter was already a trope before Carroll came along. Hatters used mercury to cure felt, and would sometimes lose cognitive function from inhaling the fumes, so mad hatters was a trope somewhat analogous to the modern trope of insane postal workers. The book is the only surviving use of the trope, so modern readers assume it's an original character concept.

** The beast in Carrol's poem "Jabberwocky" is more commonly known by that name since most works that reference it use that instead of the creature's ''actual'' name: Jabberwock.

** Cervantes was the victim of a trope misunderstanding when an anonymous writer calling himself "Avellaneda" published a false sequel to ''Don Quixote''. The sequel completely missed the cleverness of Cervantes' references that mocked tropes of the chivalric genre (the noble knight's [[Bag of Holding|Unlimited Knapsack]], the magic [[Healing Potion]]), instead choosing to write a slapstick and completely unfunny book that no one ever reads now. The book is signed as "Alonso Fernandez de Avellaneda, born in Tordesillas", but that's a fake name, and the prologue is riffed with insults to Cervantes and unashamed flattering to his main rival, Lope de Vega. Apparently at the time the book came out the writing style was famous enough to identify the author without need of giving his real name, and given the volume of [[Take That]] in Cervantes' canon sequel it's more than likely that Cervantes knew perfectly who he was. However, precisely for this reason nobody bothered to ever write down Avellaneda's real identity. Now, 400 years later, Cervantes and Don Quixote are as famous as ever, while we only know the other as "that guy that insulted Cervantes in a [[Fanfic]]".

* Stella Gibbons's comic novel ''[[Cold Comfort Farm]]'' has outlived the rustic romances it parodied.

** Certain sections of Several Voyages to Remote Nations of the World by Lemuel Gulliver are also parodying other works. His Laputa and Balnibari are much more directly mocking Francis Bacon's [[New Atlantis]]. And, strangely, the ideas of each of the 4 places he goes may have been taken from an old Japanese story, or collection of stories, that talked about tiny people, giants, and horses. Whether this is truth or an extraordinary coincidence unclear, but considering how Japan is the only place Gulliver goes to that Swift treats with any kind of reality (in addition to being the only real place Gulliver goes, and the only place where he doesn't learn the language) there may be something to it.

** Only if they don't [[Twilight|sparkle]].

** For instance, many people reading ''Dracula'' will be surprised to see the title character walking around in daylight.

** In fact, for a long time scholars weren't even sure that the works she parodied even existed.

* ''1066 and All That'', a 1930 parody of the patriotic Whiggish school history books of the early 20th century has long outlasted the works it is parodying.

** While on the topic of ''[[Harry Potter]]'': A lot of the creatures, spells, and other magical phenomena in the book have their roots in [[Older Than You Think|much, much older]] literature. Basilisks, for example, are at least [[Older Than Print]]. However, with the exception of elements used frequently in modern works (werewolves, for example), most ''Harry Potter'' fans aren't fully aware of how little of Harry's world originated with J.K. Rowling. (The exception is that if you're even vaguely aware of alchemy, then you'd know at least that Rowling did not invent the Philosopher's Stone.)

*** And Nicolas Flamel was a real person, who supposedly ''did'' invent the Philosopher's Stone.

* Few people remember that the character of C.S. Forester's [[Horatio Hornblower]] was an homage to and [[Affectionate Parody]] of, at the time, well-known British naval officers; particularly Lord Horatio Nelson. Many of Hornblower's adventures, as well as his career progression, closely parallel Lord Nelson's. These days, all but Nelson are largely forgotten by those who aren't historians or military strategists; and Nelson himself is little-known outside of Great Britain.

* In a variation of this trope, you'd be surprised to learn how many words you use each day that didn't exist until [[The Bard]] wrote them down. Addiction, advertizing, amazement, assassination, bedroom, blanket, blushing, countless, fashionable, frugal... The [http://shakespeare-online.com/biography/wordsinvented.html list] goes on and on.

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4hZmKj-CiM The opening credits] of ''[[Police Squad!]]''! [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaOsNhSGYoE are almost a shot by shot parody] of both the images and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAhXez5Ib2k music] of the little known '60s series ''[[M Squad]]''.

* When ''[[Doctor Who]]'' started in 1963, as a budget saving measure the Doctor's possibly-infinitely-large-inside space'n'time traveling ship was disguised as an ordinary, everyday object that all viewers would be familiar with -- a police box, examples of which could be seen in every town in Britain. By the time the series was revived in 2005, there hadn't been a working police box anywhere in the UK for over 20 years, and a line of expository dialogue was required in the first new episode to explain the TARDIS's appearance. Indeed, the TARDIS is usually the first thing anyone thinks of upon seeing a picture of a police box.

** Even [[The Sarah Jane Adventures|Sarah Jane]] makes the mistake in one episode, where she travels back to 1950's England.

*** On a similar note, there's a police box on Buchanan Street in Glasgow (though whether it's a surviving one or a replica I don't know) which is universally known as "the TARDIS".

** Possibly the only ''legally binding'' case of the Weird Al Effect: The BBC trademarked the look of the TARDIS in 1996. The Metropolitan Police challenged it, and lost, with the judge saying that it was far more recognizable as a symbol of ''Doctor Who'' than as a symbol of the police. (The fact that the police had never attempted to trademark it themselves over the course of 40 years also counted against them.)

** That didn't stop parents from taking their kids to see the later [[Tim Burton]] movies, expecting the same style as the Adam West series. [[Darker and Edgier|Boy were they in]] [[What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?|for a surprise]]...

** The theme for the American release ''Secret Agent Man'' is a staple of oldies radio.

** Buffy goes on to say that Idol took his look from Spike...

** To be fair, ''Get Smart'' did parody James Bond quite a bit: "Bronzefinger", "Dr. Yes", etc.

* Once upon a time, there was a UK game show called ''If I Ruled The World''. It inspired another game show called ''[[Parlamentet]]''. ''If I Ruled The World'' stopped after two seasons -- ''Parlamentet'', however, is still going strong. In Scandinavia, admittedly, but twenty-two seasons deserve a mention.

* Many [[Game Shows]] become an example of a variation of this trope when a revived version of the show becomes more popular than the original version. Some examples:

*** Additionally, when producer Mark Goodson updated ''The Price Is Right'' for the revival, he intended to incorporate elements of the most popular game show on TV at the time--''[[Let's Make a Deal]]''. The ''Deal'' connection was largely forgotten... although with a new version of that show now airing (on the same network as ''Price'' and as a companion piece, no less), the connection may become clearer once again.

** ''[[Match Game]]''. The 1970s version is the most popular due to the funny and suggestive nature of the questions. However, the original version--despite being much more sedate and tame--also had a long run on NBC from 1962 to 1969.

** Truly, this is [[Poe's Law]] in effect.

** Similarly, more people recognize Mike Myers' "Simon" sketches than "Simon in the Land of Drawings", the British series that it spoofed.

*** Not if they are old enough to have watched [[Captain Kangaroo]] as kids.

** The [http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/prose-and-cons/278825/ ''Prose and Cons''] short, particularly Eddie Murphy's "kill my landlord" poem, is more familiar these days than the [[wikipedia:Jack Abbott|Norman Mailer/Jack Henry Abbott debacle]] that it was satirizing.

* ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' popularized many old and obscure Sci-Fi movies simply because the old and obscure movies were the cheapest to get the rights to.

** ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' itself is a parody of hosted monster movie shows that were popular back when the networks needed something to show on the weekends.

** Later in the episode another in-universe example plays off the first in-universe one: when Alan does his Carson impression Troy says he's "got Britta down."

* In Spain, La Hora Chanante's sketch "Hijo de puta más" (More son of a bitch) is better known than the song that it's based on, Mr. T's "Treat Your Mother Right".

* [[The Muppet Show]] was originally a parody of the barely-remembered variety shows that were a staple of 70s TV.

** You mean, it's not a cover of a [[Queen]] guitar instrumental on ''A Night At The Opera''?! [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQP0A9wJq3A The one they played on the PA at the end of their concerts]?

* ''The Merry Go 'Round Broke Down'' is best known as "the theme song to ''[[Looney Tunes]]''".

** Similarly, ''Merrily We Roll Along'', from ''Billboard Frolics'' of 1935, is only known today as the ''[[Merrie Melodies]]'' tune and an incorrect alternative set of lyrics set to the tune of ''Mary had a Little Lamb''.

** ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' has done this to other music. Thanks to "What's Opera, Doc?" many people can't hear "Ride of the Valkyries" without singing "Kill da wabbit!" And the 19th-century song "Those Endearing Young Charms" is known today mainly for its use in a recurring ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' [[Xylophone Gag|gag where a piano or xylophone explodes]]--or at least it was until "Come On Eileen" came along.

* Gracie Fields' "Sing As We Go" from the 1930's is almost completely forgotten today, save for the melody--instantly recognizable as [[Monty Python]]'s "Sit On My Face."

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg95RPRMTyQ Japan hasn't forgotten, apparently.]

** Double-[[Weird Al Effect]]: The "original" came from the much older (1906) "This Old Man":

{{quote| This old man, he played one/He played knick-knack on my thumb/With a knick-knack paddywhack/Give a dog a bone/This old man came rolling home.}}

*** [[wikipedia:Bar form|Bar Form]]. It's a common misunderstanding on the part of people who don't know anything about music history--or church history, for that matter.

* Could be the case for "Work That Sucker To Death" by Xavier, with "Boss Theme (Japanese)", a song being much better known in the Sonic community that samples the chorus.

* The classic Shaker hymn ''Simple Gifts'' has been appropriated twice: Once for another hymn (''Lord of the Dance''), but most people would recognize it as the first movement of Aaron Copland's ballet/suite ''Appalachian Spring''. The tune is attributed: that section is titled ''Variations on a Shaker Melody''.

** People who were in elementary school wind ensembles probably first knew it as an unnamed (or possibly numbered) warm-up "etude".

* This is happening to "Johnny B. Goode" in Poland. While a lot of people know the song from ''[[Back to The Future]]'', the parody made by a famous Polish cabaret "Ani Mru Mru" is becoming more known.

* John Philip Sousa's "The Liberty Bell March" is now better known as the theme for ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]''.

** Now it's "that music in all those movie trailers."

** "Estuans interius ira vehementi". Odds are you're not thinking of one of the poems, or even the Orff rendition, as much as you're thinking of ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]''. The same goes for the rest of the non-Sephiroth lyrics of that song. (In fact, "sors, immanis et inanis" comes from "O Fortuna" itself.)

* Most people will recognise ''Entry of the Gladiators'' as the Ringling Brothers/Barnum and Bailey circus music.

* There was once a Russian musical piece called "Days of our life". They had to stop playing it because whenever they did, ''everyone was laughing at remembering the parody''. Today, the music is recognizable, and most people at least remember the first lines of the parody ('''A large crocodile lady was walking on the streets''').

* In Brazil, a certain child's song ("Criança feliz, feliz a cantar. Alegre a embalar seu sonho infantil."<ref>Happy child, happy and singing. Joyful in going through its juvenile dream.</ref>) is overshadowed by its parody version ("Criança feliz, quebrou o nariz, foi pro hospital, tomar Sonrisal..."<ref>Happy child, broke his nose, went to the hospital, to drink Sonrisal... (BTW, Sonrisal is [[You Fail Pharmacology Forever|an effervescent antacid]])</ref>. A line of the latter was even used in a popular [[Pato Fu]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH6253M8sMs song].

* Fans of [[The Dead Milkmen]] might think the joke of "Watching Scotty Die" is just the fact that it's [[Lyrical Dissonance|a peaceful-sounding]], country-esque ballad about a young boy dying from exposure to poisonous chemicals... In fact it's a parody of the significantly [[Tastes Like Diabetes|sappier]] "Watching Scotty Grow", a Bobby Goldsboro hit released more than 15 years earlier.

* Few Russians know the 1906 song ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EafHZcxi2Q On the Hills of Manchuria]''. However, play the melody, and everyone will be able to remember a few (mostly obscene) out of a virtually endless number of stanzas starting with ''"It's quite in the forest"''.

* During the 70's there was a commercial selling a classical music album base on this trope.

** "I'm sure you recognize this lovely melody as 'Stranger in Paradise.' But did you know that the original theme is from the Polovetsian Dance No. 2 by Borodin?. So many of the tunes of our well-known popular songs were actually written by the great masters--like these familiar themes... "

* "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" was written about soldiers during the American Civil War, but most today know it as the playground song "The Ants Go Marching One By One." The Civil War song was a version of the much more depressing Irish song "Johnny we hardly Knew Ye" about a soldier returning from war missing his limbs.

* [[Frank Zappa]] often uses high pitched or low pitched singing voices in his repertoire. Most younger Zappa fans assume his singers are just putting on funny voices, while when you listen to a lot of 1950s doowop songs you'll notice those comically sounding singing voices really aren't that far off.

* The catchphrase "Will the real [person's name] please stand up?" is now more likely to be associated with [[Eminem]]'s "The Real Slim Shady" than the 1960s/70s game show ''[[To Tell the Truth]]''.

== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==

== Sport ==

== [[Video Games]] ==

* [[Duke Nukem]] was not [[They Live|the first guy]] to make a [[One-Liner]] regarding the kicking of asses and the chewing of gum.

** A lot of the original Street Fighter designers jumped ship to SNK, and helped create Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting. Suffice it to say, Capcom was not happy, and the two companies shared a deep rivalry throughout the 90s.

** Similarly, most Western fans don't know that [[Fan Nickname|OVERDRIVE'S]] famous [[Easy Mode Mockery|EASY MODO?!]] is a parody of the H-doujin ''Datsu! Doutei''.

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* [http://www.lukesurl.com/archives/3141 This] strip of ''Luke Surl Comics'' says it all.

== [[Web Original]] ==

* [http://ursulav.deviantart.com/art/The-Biting-Pear-of-Salamanca-29677500 The Biting Pear of Salamanca], also known as the [[Memetic Mutation|LOLWUT Pear]].

* There's a Collegehumor video in which someone tells a story of Amir ordering "Gangsta's Paradise" on karaoke only to sing "Amish Paradise." The owner of the bar later said that they actually had "Amish Paradise" in the machine.

** From [[The Other Wiki]]:

{{quote| Bugsy's nonchalant carrot-chewing stance, as explained many years later by Chuck Jones, and again by Friz Freleng and Bob Clampett, comes from the movie ''[[It Happened One Night]]'', from a scene where the Clark Gable character is leaning against a fence eating carrots more quickly than he is swallowing (as Bugs would later often do), giving instructions with his mouth full to the [[Claudette Colbert]] character, during the hitch-hiking sequence. This scene was so famous at the time that most people immediately got the connection.}}

*** Daffy is also responsible for ''permanently changing the pronunciation of an English word.'' The word "despicable" is actually supposed to be pronounced [http://books.google.com/books?id=7iocw3kK9BIC&pg=PA109&lpg=PA109&dq=despicable+pronunciation+Daffy&source=bl&ots=3SUHKU-6Cj&sig=PFHsSpuNC0ss1vx4J44kSlvRIZU&hl=en&ei=jckuTeTpGMaAlAfP2uzmCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBoQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage with the accent on the first syllable]: "DES-picable". Mispronouncing it was part of Daffy's [[Malaproper]] schtick. However, since the cartoons reached so many kids who were too young to have the ''real'' pronunciation in their vocabularies yet, Daffy's "You're de-SPICK-able" was the pronunciation they all learned. And it holds true still today: [[Despicable Me|That Steve Carrell movie]] isn't called ''DES-picable Me''.

**** On the other hand, few people nowadays say "FORM-idable" or "LAM-entable" either, and that can hardly be blamed on Daffy.

*** Not quite. He is actually a parody of a (then) well known French actor named Jean Gabin who stared in "Pépé le Moko" which was re-made in English as "Algiers"

** If most younger viewers watch that really thin character type, with blue, blue eyes, and a velvet voice singing and making the females faint, might not know that's a parody of a young "Franky" Sinatra. Yeah, the Blue Eyes himself.

** [[Lampshaded]] in a ''[[Gilmore Girls]]'' episode where Lorelai wonders out loud about whether anvils were so ubiquitous that they would've been so easily recognized by children watching the cartoons.

** While Steinbeck's ''[[Of Mice and Men]]'' is not exactly obscure, it probably says something that the trope [[And Call Him George]] is named after a cartoon parody of it. The trope's association with [[Dumb Muscle]] cartoon characters is so much a part of comedy now that most students reading ''[[Of Mice and Men]]'' in modern times are absolutely unable to take it seriously, despite it being quite a tragic story.

** Background characters often got one-liners or mannerisms that were taken from the ''[[Fibber McGee and Molly]]'' radio show, including "That ain't the way I heered it!", "Oh, is that you, Myrt? How's every little thing?", "I bet-cha", and "Tain't funny, McGee!". One of the show's regular cast members, Arthur Q. Bryan, supplied the voice for Elmer Fudd, making him one of the three male voice actors, along with Mel Blanc and Stan Freberg, to regularly appear in the classic ''Looney Tunes'' shorts.

*** The title character from the ''Fibber'' spinoff show ''The Great Gildersleeve'' was also parodied several times -- Bugs even did a [[Lampshade Hanging]] for one, saying that he sounded like "that guy on the radio, The Great Gildersneeze". Many shorts also borrowed the catchphrase of ''Gildersleeve'' supporting character Mr. Peavey: "Well, now, I wouldn't say that!"

** ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' themselves started out as a parody/response to Disney's ''[[Silly Symphonies]]''. Nowadays, ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' are considered perhaps the most famous cartoon shorts of time.

* The process is still going on -- consider all of the increasingly dated early '90s references in ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]''.

** Cartoons like ''Mickey's Gala Premiere,'' ''Mickey's Polo Team,'' and the [[Donald Duck]] cartoon ''The Autograph Hound'' were full to the brim with famous celebrities of the time.

** The black and white Mickey cartoon ''The Klondike Kid'' is a mash-up of ''The Shooting of Dan McGrew'' and ''[[Charlie Chaplin|The Gold Rush]]''.

** The Robinson-Wiggum connection was [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] again in the 2008 "Treehouse of Horror" episode. A bunch of celebrities came back from the dead to get back for [[The Dead Rise to Advertise|gratuitous use of their images after death]]. Robinson came after Wiggum -- and they had a conversation mirroring each other exactly.

*** Similarly, in "Simpsons Bible Stories", Moses' story has Wiggum playing an Egyptian foreman clearly inspired on Robinson's role as Dathan in ''[[The Ten Commandments]]'', down to the line "Where's your Messiah NOW?"

** Professor Frink is a parody of comedian [[Jerry Lewis]]' nerdy characters, again something that is lost on younger generations.

** Bumblebee Man is a parody of [[El Chapulin Colorado]], a Mexican comedian who dressed himself as a grasshopper.

** Major Joe Quimby's voice mimicks John F. Kennedy.

** In the DVD commentary track for the fourth season of ''[[The Simpsons]]'', the writers doing the commentary specifically point out that the scene at the end of "Selma's Choice" where Selma is shown cradling her new pet iguana to the tune of "You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman" is a reference to ''[[Murphy Brown]]'' singing to her newborn son, because they were afraid viewers wouldn't "get it".

** The main theme from the 1991 version of ''[[Cape Fear]]'' was rather famous in its day, as it's a wonderfully atmospheric piece that evokes just the right sense of impending terror. Today, it's almost universally known as Sideshow Bob's theme music, thanks to an episode which parodied the film and played the theme from the movie whenever Bob was around.

*** That theme is even older, since it's based on part of Bernard Herrmann's score for the 1962 version of ''[[Cape Fear]]'' (played once at the very end).

* ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy]]'' has Dracula, a dead-on impersonation of Fred Sanford from ''[[Sanford and Son]]'', complete with a penchant for calling people "Dummy".

** He's also drawn to look like an older version of Blacula, complete with early 70's sideburns and mustache.

* The Cuddle Buddies from ''[[Kim Possible]]'' are on the surface send-ups of Beanie Babies. But if you dig further, you'll note their unmistakable resemblance to ''[[The Wuzzles]]'', a slightly obscure 1980's kids' show also produced by Disney. ''[[The Wuzzles]]'' was also [[Merchandise-Driven]]; when that show was current, store shelves did have boxes with stuffed Wuzzles on/in them. Disney remembers that aspect...

* Grandpa from ''[[Hey Arnold]]'' has a photo stashed away of Hedy Lamarr. Naturally, kids had to go ask their parents.

* It's just easier to say that ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' is another Weird Al Effect machine a la ''Alice in Wonderland'', particularly when it comes to '80s cartoons and toys.

** "Oh my god! Somebody remembered [[Sleepaway Camp|this movie]] and made a comedy sketch about it!"

** What they ''really'' aren't aware of is that Lynde stole his manner of speaking and mannerisms from Alice Ghostley, a popular Broadway star of the '50s who later became a Hollywood character actress (Lynde openly credited her, so this isn't mere gossip either).

** For that matter, Seth McFarlane's penchant for referencing 1980s TV and movies, along with 1950s lounge music, has made his shows into a Weird Al Effect machine for people too young to remember those decades (AKA the vast majority of his audience). ''Family Guy'' is a much bigger offender than ''American Dad'', though.

** The opening titles of Family Guy are a parody of the opening titles of [[All in The Family]], something that is completely lost on younger viewers.

*** With the possible exception of ''[[Star Wars]]''. For now.

* In ''Rockadoodle'', Pinky is to Colonel Tom Parker what Chantecleer is to Elvis Presley. Young kids who grew up in the 90's probably knew who Elvis was, but the Colonel, not so much.

** Possibly referencing one of the openings to the NBC Radio show [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=491245 "The Passing Parade"]

** Another episode had a small robotic mouse walking back and forth repeating "Come out and see me some time". This was a reference to an actress saying that exact line in order to promote the recent movie she was in during a news broadcast.

* Double example: the theme from "Recess" was a parody of the theme from ''[[Hogan's Heroes]]'', which in turn was a parody of the march from ''[[The Great Escape]]''.

* Bugs Bunny is likely responsible for the term "Nimrod" as an insult. He says it to Elmer Fudd sarcastically, as Nimrod was [[wikipedia:Nimrod|a great hunter in the Bible]]. (Apparently, moviegoers in the 1940s [[Viewers Are Geniuses|had an encyclopedic knowledge of the Old Testament]].) It is likely that anyone using the term today will be using it to say that the target of the word is foolish or stupid.

** "Art of the Dress" is based on [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-836TtoF_5I "Putting it Together."]

** "At the Gala" is based on another Sondheim musical number, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpM4KDxUg_0 "Ever After"] from ''[[Into the Woods]]'' -- which, if you know the context, fits perfectly with the "subverted Cinderella" theme.

== Other ==

* [[Bill Cosby]] did a retelling of a sketch from an old radio drama called "Lights Out" about a chicken heart that ate up New York City. Since he was a kid, he thought [[The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You|the chicken heart was coming to eat him]], and he promptly smeared Jell-O all over his floor and set his sofa on fire to discourage the "monster." Cosby's routine is now much better known than the original sketch. Ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump...

** Strangely, "NG" is still used in Japan, though not to the extent of "OK".

* "Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side". Despite being used as the mascot of joke-telling, it's really a parody of other jokes. Where most jokes end with some kind of pun, "To get to the other side" is a straight answer that only works if the listener was expected something absurd. People are now conditioned to accept the answer as funny without even thinking about it.

** For that matter, the expression "[[We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties|technical difficulties]]" is now highly likely to be used as a euphemism for a person (or even an entire society) going insane, or even for something disastrous or off-color (as, most hilariously, in ''[[Problem Child]] 2''), rather than something as mundane as a problem with a broadcaster's equipment.

* Several impressionists have lamented that many of their favorite impressions are lost on the younger crowd. Kevin Pollack did a hilarious routine of the fictitious ''Albert Brooks Show'', wherein he impersonates Albert Brooks quite well, that he had to take out of his act because most people recognize Albert Brooks only as the voice of Marlin the clownfish in ''[[Finding Nemo]]''.

* Weird Al, who loved Dr. Demento and got his start on the show, probably laments the fact that the ''still-running'' [http://www.drdemento.com/ Dr. Demento show] has been almost forgotten except by connection to him. (To wit, he's gone [http://www.geekosystem.com/dr-demento-radio-show-over/ internet-only].) There are a smattering of pages centered around Weird Al on [[This Very Wiki]]... but not a one about the good Doctor.

* The current likeness of The Grim Reaper is likely to become an example ([[Your Mileage May Vary|if it isn't already]]) because it carries a scythe, which presumably not that many people know the real use for.

* [[Cracked]] goes meta with this in "[http://www.cracked.com/article_19109_6-things-our-kids-just-plain-wont-get.html 6 Things Our Kids Just Won't Get]", which includes the save icon (floppy disk), time-related tv activities such as Saturday morning cartoons (thanks to cable becoming commonplace and [[DV Rs]] which allow people not to watch things when they come on), and common older sitcom plots, such as plots when someone gets lost (nowadays people would just call them on a cell phone).

* [[wikipedia:Applejack (beverage)|Applejack]] was originally a potent form of distilled apple brandy. However, for the last few decades it has been more commonly known as [[wikipedia:Apple Jacks|an over-sweetened breakfast cereal]] that once counterintuitively used the fact that it ''doesn't'' taste like apples as a marketing gimmick.

*** The link with the alcohol is not lost on the writers, mind. In one episode she gets shrunk for a plot-related reason and nicknamed [[Stealth Pun|Apple-teeny.]]

* The counting rhyme "eeny meeny miny moe / catch a tiger by the toe / if he hollers let him go / eeny meeny miny moe" that we all said as children is in fact only the latest in a long line of variations on an actually rather ominous rhyme. The original is a poem about what to do if you think you've seen the devil, but the lyrics have been so altered that no one would know this without looking it up.

** The regional variant "catch a monkey by the toe" wasn't much better.

* The McIntosh apple [[Older Than They Think|dates back to 1811]]. No, not an [[Apple Macintosh]], a McIntosh apple. [[Department of Redundancy Department|Apple named the computer after a type of apple.]] They could have named it [[What Could Have Been|Golden Delicious, or Granny Smith]].

{{reflist}}