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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''"BBC bastards."''
|'''Steve'''|''[[Coupling]]'' (a show financed by [[The BBC]])}}
When on a comedy the characters make jokes at the expense of the studio or network funding their movie or TV show. In the US, the favorite target out of the Big Four Networks seems to be FOX, although all networks are [[Acceptable Targets]] at some point or another.
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This trope would also fit those moments when an embittered author, or one cynical of the morality of the publishing industry, inserts into his work a thinly disguised slap to the face of the publishing house that is keeping him in work, albeit for not entirely satisfactory royalties or advance payments.
A sister trope to [[Take That]] and [[Writer Revolt]]. Related to [[Take That, Audience!]]. Remembering who wears the pants can combine this with [[End of Series Awareness]].
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* One arc of ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'' ends with a climactic battle in the Fuji TV station, which broadcast the show in Japan. It's mercilessly destroyed, although part of the architecture is used to destroy the [[Big Bad]]. The English dub just refers to "the TV station," which is a
* Speaking of the Fuji TV station, it also occurred in several ''[[Kochikame]]'' TV specials which the building was destroyed during the climaxes. One time, its architecture was used as a wrecking ball to knock a few stories off a skyscraper.
* The first episode of the [[OVA]] ''[[Dangaioh]]'' had the AIC building (''Dangaioh'''s production company) destroyed by the invading bad guys.
* With ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'', [[Sunrise (company)|Sunrise]] figured out that the best way to make use of blatant [[Product Placement]] was to make fun of blatant [[Product Placement]].
{{quote|
'''Kotetsu:''' Our sponsors, sir!
'''Jackson:''' Good! }}
* A dub example. If you play [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZlIcJbbm08&fmt=18 a scene] in episode 130 of [[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]] [[Subliminal Seduction|backwards]], you will hear James say "Leo Burnett and 4kids are the devil! Leo Burnett!" 4kids is the company that dubbed the series.
* In-universe example in ''[[Kannagi]]''. Akiba brings a taped show for the main character Jin, because Jin accidentally taped over a show that Nagi hadn't watched yet on a VHS tape. He first hands out a Blu-ray, then when Jin mentions not having a Blu-ray player, he pulls out a tape. Nagi asks what it is, and turns out it's a Betamax tape, which Jin also doesn't have a player for. Cue the characters looking at Akiba.
{{quote|
** Said show was produced by Aniplex, [[It Makes Sense in Context|so it's sponsored by Sony.]]
* "''[[Daily Lives of High School Boys]]'' was lazily brought to you by these sponsors..."
** "''Daily Lives of High School Boys'' was intermittently brought to you by these sponsors..."
** "''Daily Lives of High School Boys'' should have been brought to you by these sponsors..."
== Comic Books ==
* In the first ''[[Great Lakes Avengers]]'', [[Squirrel Girl]] and Grasshopper appear in an offstage prologue. Grasshopper says "The only people reading comics now are [[Take That, Audience!|overweight thirty-year-olds]] [[Basement Dweller|living in their mother's basement]]." [[Squirrel Girl]]'s sidekick replies in an inset: "Hey, fanboys, don't take that lying down! Write angry letters to [[Marvel]] today!"
* Hazmat in ''Avengers Academy'' #10: "Today's gonna suck as much as all the others... but just a little bit ''harder''. Because it's ''[[One More Day]]''... with ''no end in sight''."
* A comic story of ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy
== Film ==
* ''[[Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back]]'' was full of these jokes.
** Case in point...
{{quote|
* ''[[Wayne's World]]'' actually had this as a plot point, with the boys making fun of their show's sponsor.
** And in the sequel, their trip to London is shown via second-unit footage with incredibly bad stand-ins while they marvel in voice-over [[Sarcasm Mode|how nice of Paramount it was to send them to London for real]].
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* In ''[[Impromptu]]'', a group of struggling artists put on a theater production for their wealthy patrons that insult said patrons. The artists give "true art is offensive" as their justification.
* After [[RoboCop]] has been reprogrammed in ''Robocop 2'', one of his directives is to "avoid Orion meetings".
* ''[[Pee
* The {{spoiler|near}} destruction of Pixar in ''[[Mission: Impossible (film)||Mission Impossible]]: Ghost Protocol'', as seen in the trailer.
* At the end of ''[[Holy Flying Circus]]'', [[Stephen Fry|God]] tells Michael Palin that he's having a dream that will probably be used as the ending for a heavy-handed [[BBC 4]] comedy/drama.
{{quote|
** God's response is to chuckle.
* A subtle one in '''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (film)]]''; in one scene, Raphael walks out of a theater after seeing ''[[Critters| Critters 2]]'' - which, like the Turtles movie, was produced by New Line Cinema - and exclaims, [[Who Writes This Crap?| "Where do they come up with this stuff?"]] Possibly also done to lampoon the fact that [[Hypocritical Humor|mutant turtles like Raphael are just as weird as the aliens in the film.]]
== Literature ==
* In ''[[
* Sci-fi author [[Philip José Farmer]], in his ''[[Riverworld]]'' series where all the Earth's population is resurrected into a wholly unexpected afterlife, has the character who is his [[Marty Stu]] in the book (legitimate, as we are ''all'' characters on the Riverworld) meet a publisher who once cheated him. Near-lethal vengeance is administered. The publisher is given the name Sharko.
== Live-Action TV ==
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* ''[[Married... with Children]]'' had an episode in which the cast assumed "Fox viewing positions," which involved grabbing onto the rabbit ears, standing on one foot, balancing pots on their heads, etc. For you youngsters who've always had cable, the Fox network originally used mostly UHF stations, which were sometimes hard to tune in depending on weather, etc. This was just one of many, many pokes at Fox's programming reputation.
** Several episodes had a family member watching TV and hearing/listening to the promo for some utterly awful-sounding show, like "Psycho Dad" or "Psycho Mom". The promo would always conclude with the phrase, "On Fox!", to which the family member would reply, "Naturally."
* ''[[Seinfeld]]'' did this trope as well, by having Jerry and George pitch a [[Show Within a Show]] to [[NBC]]. The
* ''[[True Blood]]'' does this with one of their sponsors: Nintendo. There have been at least two episodes where characters were shown playing the Nintendo Wii and having a good, wholesome time. Finally, near the very end of season two they had a clearly deranged stay-at-home mom flailing the Wii remote around as she killed in psychopathic glee...suddenly those previous scenes don't seem so wholesome.
** Then season three started: No Wii.
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** Before he changed networks, Letterman did plenty of digs at [[NBC]] and their parent company, General Electric.
*** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_kY8n3KfEY The final segment of the last episode Letterman's ill-fated 1980 morning show] was a hilariously mean [[Take That]] to NBC and the game show that took over his timeslot.
** Jay Leno of ''[[The Tonight Show]]'' must have similar writers - he makes a lot of jokes at NBC's expense, too. He even makes jokes about how bad his jokes are.
* [[The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson|CBS cares.]]
* ''[[30 Rock|Thirty Rock]]'' also can't seem to stop making fun of NBC and General Electric.
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* Because it's his job to make fun of everything on television, [[Charlie Brooker]] makes fun of the Beeb on his BBC Four show ''[[Screenwipe]]'' just as much as anyone else. While he does make light jabs at BBC Four's pretentiousness with fake shows like ''Harpsichord Challenge'' and ''The History of Corners'', and BBC Three's pandering to the base with ''Sick on a Widow'', he also gives well deserved criticism at recent BBC recommendations relating to the [[Credits Pushback]].
** At least one jab was aimed at the viewers, in a piece about computer games:
{{quote|
* Although not a comedy, ''[[The Bill]]'' had a moment where two character were checking a hotel's CCTV cameras during an undercover operation. They were making comments related to the order of channels on the TV set. [[BBC 2]] was gardening, ITV (the show's own channel, before it became [[ITV 1]]) was adverts and the final conclusion to the joke was that [[Channel 4]] (not named) was sex, as they discovered Dave and Polly kissing in a hotel room. Taking the joke further, [[Channel Five]] equals porn (although, not as much... [[CSI Verse|these days]].)
* In one skit on ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway?|Whose Line Is It Anyway]]'', Colin Mochrie screamed at Ryan Stiles and Wayne Brady: "You're not human! You're less than human! You're ''network executives''!" However, after the game, Drew Carey went to great lengths to point out that Colin wasn't talking about ABC (the American one).
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** The Kate Jackson episode has a running gag revealing that Silverman (played by John Belushi) was sent to NBC by [[Charlie's Angels|Charlie]] to ruin the network.
** The 1979 Christmas show has a running gag of promos hyping Gary Coleman appearances on every other NBC show and special, since ''[[Diff'rent Strokes]]'' was one of the network's only hits at the time, along with ''SNL''.
** The "Limo for the Lame-O" [[wikipedia:Al Franken#Saturday Night Live|affair]]: Al Franken encouraged viewers to send letters to NBC asking that Franken get the use of a company
** Then there was the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3JLKw0q4kY "Conspiracy Theory Rock"] short from the 1998 season, which is about major corporations like General Electric controlling the media. It was banned from re-airing, but would appear on a TV Funhouse "Best Of" DVD.
** In an installment of ''Weekend Update'':
{{quote|
'''The Devil''': Well, just NBC. }}
* Towards the end of his run on ''[[The Tonight Show]]'', Conan got absolutely ''vicious'' with these. For example, he mentioned that his rating were up 50%(due to the controversy), and continued that he was on the wrong network. He also introduced new one-shot characters for no reason other than to be ''really'' expensive, such as the mouse made out of a Bugatti Veyron, with the backing track of the original studio recording version of the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction". As he pointed out, both the broadcast rights and the syndication rights to the song were "crazy expensive", bringing the price tag of the character, who appeared for all of ''two minutes'', to '''1.5 million dollars.''' [[Sarcasm Mode|"What're they gonna do, fire me?"]]
** And then, when word got out that the network was banning him from saying bad things about them, he got around it by SINGING insults.
*** And then, when that didn't work, he said them in ''Spanish'' (complete with ''subtitles''):
{{quote|
* ''[[The Daily Show]]'' and ''[[The Colbert Report]]'' do this frequently. One toss between the two shows had a jealous Colbert mocking fellow Daily Show alumnus Ed Helms for [[The Office|not having a nightly show]]. When reminded that his own show was on ''Comedy Central'', Colbert broke down sobbing: "I know! God, it's horrible! I wish I was on the Food Network!"
** An episode of the former once showed a clip of [[Barack Obama]] being asked if he had ever seen the [[Comedy Central]] show '''[[Lil' Bush]]'', to which he replied "I heard of it, but I've never seen it." Cut to Stewart saying "Join the club."
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** An example of another network getting its hand bit on ''[[The Daily Show]]'': In 1997 [[Keith Olbermann]], a ''[[Sports Center]]'' anchor at the time, appeared as a guest on the ''[[The Daily Show]]'' with [[The Pete Best|Craig Kilborn]] (himself a ''[[Sports Center]]'' anchor before becoming host of ''[[The Daily Show]]'') without permission from his bosses at [[ESPN]], as required by that network's rules. During the interview Olbermann was asked (as part of the now-retired Five Questions segment) "What's the most god-forsaken place on the East Coast?" and answered "Bristol, Connecticut." Bristol happens to be the headquarters of [[ESPN]]. He got a two-week suspension, and the incident partially led to his departure from [[ESPN]] that year.
** Colbert also mocks this trope a lot, when he was feeling uneasy about giving Jon advertising.
{{quote|
* ''[[Strangers with Candy]]'' bit the hand hard in their final episode. Two property developers show up at Flatpoint High and repeatedly deny that they're tearing it down and building a strip mall, even as classrooms are demolished and food outlets built in their place. At the end of the episode, the teachers and students [[Trash the Set|go on a rampage of destruction and burn down the school]], with one teacher gloating "They'll never turn it into a strip mall now!" The [[Reality Subtext]]: the property developers were based on two Comedy Central network execs. ''[[Strangers with Candy]]'' was being cancelled, and replaced with a show called ''Strip Mall''.
* During the 2006 Emmy Awards on NBC, host Conan O'Brien, whose show is also on NBC, puts it delicately:
{{quote|
With a capital "T" and that rhymes with "G" as in "Gee, we're screwed!"
Yeah, we got trouble, right here at NBC
I hate to disrespect, but my lawyer checked and I can't be sued! }}
{{quote|
* ''[[Harry Hill's TV Burp|Harry Hills TV Burp]]'' makes fun of all channels about equally and does not spare its parent ITV. For example:
{{quote|
* ''[[X-Play]]'' would occasionally jab at G4 after its [[Network Decay]], with specific references to being on the same channel as ''[[The Man Show]]''.
* In one episode of ''[[Dirty Jobs]]'', there was an incident in a salt mine where one of the camera men narrowly avoided getting hit on the head by a large rock. One of the mine workers joked that when someone is injured to 'go for the wallet first.' Cue Mike Rowe's reply "He's a camera man. For the ''Discovery Channel.'' There's nothing in his wallet."
** Also, this fun exchange:
{{quote|
'''Mike:''' Just bend over and get ready for it?
'''Dairy Famer:''' Yup. That's not a problem?
'''Mike:''' Sir, I've been in television so long, I'm a pro at [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|bending over and taking it.]] }}
* Something similar happened on ''[[Destination Truth]].'' Josh Gates is browsing through a marketplace in Turkey (I believe) and sees a beautiful rug. The shop owner tells him the price and Josh looks surprised. They then cut to him looking at much smaller rugs, roughly the size of a sheet of paper (the shop owner suggests using them under a telephone,) and Josh says "I work on cable, my friend, this is all I can afford." He never explicitly mentions Syfy, but the implication is there.
* While presenting the Best Animated Feature nominees at the 2009 [[Academy
{{quote|
* While we're on the topic of the Oscars, after the 2008 show played a montage of movies addressing the social issues of their time (in a very "look how awesome we are for doing this" tone):
{{quote|
* In the [[Spike Milligan]] series ''Q6'' (1975), the first episode features several digs at the BBC's security guards, the "crummy wardrobe department" and the high prices in the canteen.
* ''[[The Goodies]]'' contains numerous swipes at the BBC, most notably in the episodes "Alternative Roots" and "The End", during which a service announcement warns of "cutbacks of a hundred percent" - and the screen immediately goes black!
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* In his show ''[[No Reservations]]'', celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain frequently pokes fun at his producers and The Travel Network.
** Although compared to the absolute ''demolishing'' of [[Food Network]] in his book, ''A Cook's Tour'' (which was funded by the network in question), Bourdain is pratically complimentary.
* ''[[The Soup]]'' takes sooooooooo many jabs at [[
** Also a staple of ''[[Chelsea Lately]]''. Chelsea Handler frequently ridiculed the network president, even while she was dating him.
* An episode of ''[[Family Matters]]'' had Carl passive
* In ''[[Talkin Bout Your Generation]]'', host [[Shaun Micallef]] makes unkind remarks about the Ten network a few times; once, he [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] this by miming biting his hand afterwards.
* When he was a panelist on ''[[Match Game]]'', Richard Dawson used to quip that his ''[[Family Feud]]'' was the most popular show in Guam.
* The [[Too Good to Last]] game show ''Clash'' (Ha!/Comedy Central) had Billy Kimball addressing a discrepency "because if we don't, we're going to get a letter from our viewer."
* A 1971 episode of ''The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour'' featured an opera version of ''[[All in The Family]]'' with a completely different cast playing the Bunkers and Stivics, with the plotline having the CBS censor being invited for dinner. The CBS censor was played by Carroll O'Connor.
* Satirical BBC panel game ''[[Have I Got News for You]]'' does this a lot. One of the most notable occasions was in the late 1990s when the BBC director-general John Birt banned BBC programs from discussing rumours that politician [[Peter Mandelson]] (a close friend of Birt) was gay; this act by Birt was widely regarded as an abuse of Birt's position and clear bias towards a friend who was otherwise an obvious target for satirists. Viewers eagerly awaited the first show after this became public, to see if the show would break the BBC's rules. Early on, guest Jackie Mason made a reference about Mandelson, and soon everyone else was at it, so the entire show became an attack on Mandelson's hypocrisy and Birt's attempt to get the BBC to cover for his friend.
* [[Eric Idle]]'s post-''[[Monty Python]]'' sketch show ''[[Rutland Weekend Television]]'' was un-necessarily crippled by a miniscule budget
{{quote|
* An episode of ''[[The Mighty Boosh]]'' (made by the BBC) has Howard watching a bland, seven-hour documentary about an obscure film director and his [[True Art Is Incomprehensible|incomprehensible]] [[Le Film Artistique|works]]... on BBC Four. They got to use the real BBC Four logo.
* ''[[Boy Meets World]]'' delivered a really big [[Take That]] at ABC for moving the show's timeslot. It happens in the episode where Cory and Topanga are babysitting a kid and are discussing his bedtime:
{{quote|
'''Topanga:''' But it's 9:30, I know you don't stay up past nine.
'''Kid:''' It used to be on at 8:30 but this year they moved it to 9:30, those idiots.
'''Cory:''' Wait a minute, they moved that show to 9:30
'''Kid:''' No one knows!
'''Cory:''' Well was it doing badly at 8:30?
'''Kid:''' No!
'''Cory:''' Well why didn't they leave it alone?
'''Kid:''' There're trying to kill it! There're trying to kill it!
'''Cory:''' Those are bad, bad people. }}
* One of the reasons ''The [[Dana Carvey]] Show
* The 2011 episode of ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' with guest host [[Miley Cyrus]] had a sketch called "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZdIFRKeSso&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL19B7160BD391FE59 Disney Channel Acting School]", where Miley (dressed in an exaggerated [[Hannah Montana]] costume and poofy hair) and [[Raven-Symone]] (played by [[Kenan and Kel|Kenan Thompson]]) host an infomercial for the school. The sketch parodies the writing, wardrobe and comedic devices [[Disney Channel]] [[Kid Com
* [[Psych]], which airs on USA (an NBC affiliate) had this gem:
{{quote|
* The made-for-tv movie ''[[Special Bulletin]]'', which aired on NBC, featured a terrorist remarking "NBC would kill its mother for this footage!"
* ''Babylon 5'': At the start of season 2, Executive Meddling made the creators sex up Ivanova's appearance. She started wearing redder lipstick and had her hair loose instead of pulled back. When Garibaldi came out of his coma and returned to duty, he commented on her 'new look'. Ivanova snapped back "With everything that's been going on around here I'd think you'd have other things on your mind besides my look!" Take That, Executive Meddlers!
* An unusual case: ABC has been owned by The Walt Disney Company since 1995, and in the Tom Bergeron era of ''[[America's Funniest Home Videos]]'' (which started at the [[Turn of the Millennium]]), the grand prizes each season are usually related to the [[Disney Theme Parks]] or the company's other vacation ventures. The show usually sends Bergeron to the venues in question to spend chunks of his host segments shilling them. Aside from those special episodes, however, Disney hasn't stopped the show from airing home videos that cast the parks in a less-than-ideal light (costumed characters falling off of parade floats or scaring toddlers, kids and adults being unpleasantly surprised by Epcot's famous "leapfrog fountains", etc.), and in one 2005 finale Bergeron joked that when his daughters are at Disney World, the three things they're most eager to see are "Mickey, Minnie, and Daddy's Wallet."
== Music ==
* The [[Dead Kennedys]] turned this into a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] with their legendary performance of "Pull My Strings" at the Bay Area Music Awards in 1980.
* The back cover of The Replacements' ''Let It Be'' is a picture of graffiti the band members had written on a door, including "Twin/Tone eats slotty crap" (or possibly "...''sloth'' crap"). The Replacements were signed to the label Twin/Tone at the time, and what makes it even funnier is that the Twin/Tone logo is positioned directly beneath that message.
** The rarity "Lookin' For Ya" (which they would re-work into "Love Lines") ends with Paul Westerberg ad-libbing "Keep your riches, give me a Budweiser!". This is because it was originally recorded for ''Trackin' Up The North'', a compilation put together as part of a "Rags To Riches" battle of the bands co-sponsored by Miller High Life.
* Mr. Bungle were apparently doubtful as to whether or not their major label debut would even be released: In one line of "Carousel" they ask "Will Warner Brothers put this record on the shelf?" (although, possibly as a way of [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]], the liner notes make the blatantly false claim that the lyric is "[[Grease|look at me I'm Sandra Dee]])".
** [[Devo]] was also known to mock Warner Brothers, and the music industry in general. Their promotional videos included characters that embodied every record executive stereotype: Rod Rooter, a pimply manager who didn't get Devo ("I can forgive you guys for being artists, but I can't forgive you for being stupid!" "Look at the airplay charts! No, no Devo!") and Daddy-Know-It-All, the boss of Big Entertainment who orders Rod to keep Devo in line.
== Newspaper Comics ==
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** Pastis has mocked his syndicate several times as well.
* Gary Trudeau, creator of ''Doonesbury'', has slapped at his employer several times for making him submit strips six weeks in advance, with characters saying things along the lines of "even though the election happened last week, we don't know who won because this strip was submitted six weeks ago."
== Radio ==
* The "Radio 3" episode of ''[[Absolute Power (
** ''Absolute Power'''s [[Spin-Off|parent show]], ''In The Red'' and sequels were ''made'' of this trope; BBC radio comedy dramas about an inept BBC radio journalist and his unpleasant BBC bosses.
* In Season One of ''[[Old Harry's Game|Old Harrys Game]]'', Thomas persuades Gary to lead a rebellion of the demons. Two demons keep insisting they need mission statements and brightly-coloured charts.
{{quote|
'''Gary''': They're the demons in charge of torturing former BBC executives.
'''Thomas''': I think they've gone native. }}
* ''[[I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue]]'' often made fun of the BBC. In particular Tim and Graeme spent the early 2000s taking potshots at the Controller of [[BBC 2]], Jane "''[[The Goodies]]'' will be repeated over my dead body" Root. After all, she started it.
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* ''[[Car Talk]]'' has an inversion via [[Self-Deprecation]]: the [[Stinger]] for the show is inevitably something to the effect of "And even though [something indicating deep disapproval/disappointment happens] every time ''we'' say it, this is NPR, National Public Radio." In other words, they compliment their network by calling themselves unworthy of it.
* Radio 4's statistics programme ''More Or Less'', reporting that one of their regular mathematician guests was appearing on BBC One's ''[[Wipeout 2008|Winter Wipeout]]'':
{{quote|
== Print Media ==
* ''[[MAD]]'' is well-known for its satires of movies, television, and other forms of media, and it very often lampoons works produced by Warner Communications, its parent company.
== Video Games ==
* In the Los Angeles mission of the Japanese Campaign in ''[[Command
** ''[[The Simpsons Game]]'' was also filled with jokes directed at EA.
* The first thing one saw upon booting up ''[[
* Reggie Fils-Aime of Nintendo considers the ''[[Blur (video game)|Blur]]'' commercial, a [[Take That]] at ''[[Mario Kart]]'', to be this [https://web.archive.org/web/20100824135627/http://www.nintendoeverything.com/43116/ on the basis] that the game's publisher [[Activision]] is also doing the new ''[[GoldenEye 007 (2010 video game)|GoldenEye]]'' game exclusively for Nintendo.
* [[Dragon Age]], Human Noble origin: [[Baldur's Gate|"Giant rats? It's like the start of every bad adventure tale my grandfather used to tell."]]
* Strong Bad does this quite often towards [[Telltale Games]] in ''[[Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People|Strong Bads Cool Game for Attractive People]]'' and its making-of mockumentary ''Behind The Bad'' (and eventually carried over in ''[[Poker Night At the Inventory]]''), usually complaining about how they never follow his idea of the "perfect" Strong Bad video game. This, however, is subverted near the end of "8-Bit Is Enough" when the developers [[Throw the Dog a Bone|finally made an albeit lo-res polygon render of a concept sketch from Strong Bad for the episode's final battle]], [["Hell Yes!" Moment|and Strong Bad couldn't be more happy about it.]]
* Online game makers Nitrome did this and a bit of [[Self-Deprecation]] with their 100th game, ''Nitrome Must Die''. Example: in one level, the whiteboard in the background shows ideas for a new game... with a deadline of 8 hours.
* More a case of taking a shot at ''former'' employers; Koji Igarashi's messy divorce from Konami is well known, and when he started his own company, ArtPlay (after raising $5.5 million on Kickstarter) he released ''[[Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night]]'', a sort of [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[Castlevania]]''. Just to troll his former employers, the game includes a scene were the hero fights two demonic slot machines, a jab at the business Konami has been in since abandoning ''Castlevania''.
== Web Comics ==
*
** The ''
▲* [[Web Comic]] example: Most of the jokes in ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'', especially in the first 200 or so comics, are at the expense of ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' or its publisher, [[Wizards of the Coast]]. Rich Burlew, the author, is a freelance game designer who mostly works for Wizards on D&D-related projects. An early strip based on Wizards' slightly bizarre copyright policy is actually titled [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0032.html Biting the Hand That Feeds Me].
▲** The ''OOTS'' strip in the last three issues of ''[[Dragon]]'' magazine had the Order discover the dragon from the cover of issue 1, whose subsequent career mirrored that of the magazine itself. The second of these strips was titled Claw/Claw/Bite The Hand That Feeds Me.
== Web Original ==
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* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/video/2009/may/14/david-mitchell-soapbox This episode] of David Mitchell's Soap Box. (Originally the video went out as a podcast sponsored by Bulldog Natural Grooming.)
** Later episodes have a [[Running Gag]] that David can't remember the name of the company that is sponsoring his podcasts. Eventually Bulldog got in on the joke by announcing "Robert Webb's Soapbox".
* ''[[Psycomedia]]'' hosts Tim and Ben both attended [[Oxbridge|Oxford University]] but many episodes focus on the bizarre research of their teachers and other faculty members. Lovingly. And not libellously.
* According to [[Todd in the Shadows]], [[Lady Gaga]]'s "Telephone" has more advertisements than [[That Guy With The Glasses]].com. And "I've realised something about my new workplace. YOU ARE ALL A BUNCH OF NERDS! NERDS! ''NERDS!''"
** Continues in [[Atop the Fourth Wall|Linkara's]] review of KISS comics. When asking Todd if he'd like to co-review after giving the history of KISS, he just laughs at the thought of him reviewing a comic. "I forget how nerdy this site is." Linkara didn't look pleased.
** In "The Sexual Awakening Of The Human Nerd" by [[The Nostalgia Chick]]'s supporting cast, Dr. Tease interviews the other reviewers, describing them as "These creatures - I mean, humans - I mean, nerds".
* [[Zero Punctuation|Yahtzee]] has an infrequent habit of calling the Escapist out on having him play and review games he'd rather not. Its not exactly suprising, considering he [[Hates Everyone Equally|he insults
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[The Simpsons]]'' has a long history of poking fun at the [[FOX]] network.
* ''[[The Simpsons]]'' and ''[[Family Guy]]'' both have histories of poking fun at the [[Fox]] network. Probably the most striking example was [http://www.hulu.com/watch/41275/family-guy-canceled the first scene in the first episode of ''Family Guy'' after it had been revived from cancellation], where Peter recites the long list of every prime-time show that Fox cancelled after ''Family Guy''.▼
** There is a list [https://web.archive.org/web/20131108070159/http://www.snpp.com/guides/foxswipe.html here] of many of the jabs at Fox. Specific ''Simpsons'' examples:
*** ''The Simpsons'' reached a disturbing new nadir in its "MoneyBART" episode, its [[Couch Gag]] (storyboarded by subversive street artist [[Banksy]]) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX1iplQQJTo depicting] the production of ''Simpsons'' episodes and merchandise taking place in a toxic sweat shop within a bulding shaped like the 20th Century Fox [[Vanity Plate]]. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11510513 This BBC report] claims the sequence "led to delays, disputes over broadcast standards and a threatened walk out by the animation department."
*** Planning to videotape an apparent alien visitor (and taking a swipe at Fox's [[Documentary of Lies|"Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction"]] broadcast), giving us the second page quote.
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*** An even better example was in [[The Movie]]: During one of the scenes, a [[Commercial Pop-Up]] crawler advertising the Fox networks starts moving across the bottom of the screen, ending with "Yes, we even advertise during movies now".
*** Also there was Krusty bemoaning his good-for-nothing half-brother Luke Perry:
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'''Krusty''':Yeah...[with disgust] on ''Fox''. }}
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'''Rupert Murdoch''': Not nearly enough! }}
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▲*** In "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy", the family criticizes Lisa's recent activism:
▲{{quote| '''Homer''': And we can't watch Fox because they own those chemical weapon plants in Syria.}}
▲*** In "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" you may remember Troy McClure from such Fox network specials as ''Alien Nose Job'' and ''Five Fabulous Weeks of "The Chevy Chase Show"''.
▲**** And in "[[Halloween Episode|Treehouse of Horror IX]]" Ed McMahon would like to remind you that the FOX special ''World's Deadliest Executions'' is brought to you by the producers of ''When Skirts Fall Off'' and ''Secrets of National Security Revealed''.
▲*** In ''The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase'', Troy McClure says that FOX approached the Writers of ''The Simpsons'' to create "35 new shows" to fill a "few holes" in the schedule. Cue a poster of the FOX schedule: A slot each for ''The Simpsons'', ''[[The X-Files]]'', and ''[[Melrose Place]]'', All other slots are question marks.
▲*** In "Simple Simpson", the family watches ''Promiscuous Idiots Island'' on Fox, the home of promiscuous idiots.
▲*** Plus, there was a scene in a Sideshow Bob episode where Rupert Murdoch himself (speaking with a bad Australian accent) was in jail with Bob. They actually had to ask for and GOT permission from Murdoch himself for that one. His response was apparently "[[Self-Deprecation|I would be honored to be in jail in The Simpsons]]".
▲*** In the episode where Lisa was petitioning to have Springfield turn off all its lights so she could see an upcoming meteor shower, she complained that the only thing she could see in her telescope was the Fox satellite. The screen then cuts to a broken, falling apart satellite that's only being held up by regular party balloons.
▲*** And in the episode written by and guest starring Ricky Gervais, Fox is described as the home of the world's worst sitcoms, before Lisa points out that the show ''Mother Flippers'' (i.e. ''Trading Spouses'') is a rip-off of an [[Wife Swap|existing show]]. She is bribed with a Fox sweatshirt, but when she points out it's actually an ABC sweatshirt they throw her in the ''[[American Idol]]'' holding pen.
▲*** Behind the Laughter: The only reason that "The Simpsons" got picked up as a show, was because Marge's hairdresser was also ''president'' of the Fox network.
▲*** In the couch gag for "Elementary School Musical", the 22nd season premiere, a Fox executive appeared giving the Simpsons a cupcake with a candle on it to celebrate the beginning of the season. After Maggie blew out the candle, the executive took the cupcake and ate it himself.
▲*** Subverted in another episode, when a media circus hits town, the Fox news van is very large and rolls into view while "We Are The Champions" plays.
▲*** The show did a parody of ''[[The Island of Dr. Moreau]]'' called "The Island of Dr. Hibbert." In it, Dr. Hibbert has been turning the people of Springfield into half-men/half-beasts. He himself comes out wearing a fox stole which resembles Mr. Burns, prompting Bart to say, "Ooooh, he got the Fox treatment."
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▲*** In-universe example in one episode. Krusty bad-mouths a particular drug company (I think Percodan) while being taped, then mentions "a word from our sponsor", who also happens to be the same drug company he just criticized. Cue [[Oh Crap]] moment for him.
▲*** In "Sideshow Bob Roberts" Larry King is moderating in a mayoral debate. Before the debate, he addresses the audience.
▲{{quote| '''King''':I'm your moderator, Larry King. Now, a word to our audience: even though we're being broadcast on...Fox, there's no need for obnoxious hooting and hollering.<br />
'''*Cue obnoxious hooting and hollering*''' }}
▲* ''[[
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▲*** They also inverted this trope, in the episode "Death Is a Bitch". Assigned by Death with the task of killing the cast of ''[[Dawson's Creek]]'', Peter demurs:
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▲{{quote| '''Peter:''' I'm not gonna kill those kids. If they die, I'll have nothing to watch on Wednesdays. ''[Glancing at the camera, and breaking out in a nervous grin]'' Other than the fine programs on Fox.}}
'''Lois:''' Yeah, who woulda thought that bin Laden was hiding out in the cast of [[Mad TV]]?
▲*** In "Meet the Quagmires" we get this exchange:
▲{{quote| '''Molly:''' Hey did you guys hear on the news how President Gore hunted down and killed Osama bin Laden with his bare hands?<br />
▲'''Lois:''' Yeah, who woulda thought that bin Laden was hiding out in the cast of [[Mad TV]]?<br />
'''Quagmire:''' Man, the perfect hiding spot. The one place no one would look! }}
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'''Peter:''' Yeah!
'''Announcer:''' ...[[Nipple-and-Dimed|on]] [[Edited for Syndication|TBS]].
'''Peter:''' Aww. }}
* ''[[Animaniacs]]'':
** In
** Their treatment of the network censors in "Valuable Lesson"...
** From the Thanksgiving episode, arguing over a turkey:
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'''Yakko:''' [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|We'd love to, really]], but the Fox censors won't allow it. }}
* [[The Critic]]'' had a few, which make sense, seeing as the protagonist was, well, [[Captain Obvious|a critic:]]
**
* The intro to the first ''[[Futurama]]'' movie is a long string of jokes where the cancellation of the show is compared to Planet Express' flight license being canceled by the "Box Network", which is in turn an unending string of attacks on Fox for canceling the show in the first place.▼
* ''[[Futurama]]'', being a [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' had many:
▲** The intro to the first
** The [[Couch Gag]] tagline for that movie is ''[[Self Deprecating Humor|"It just won't stay dead!"]]''
** In the first string of Lampshade jokes that opens the movie, the Professor mentions that the executives responsible for their cancellation had been fired, then beaten up, badly mauled and finally ground into a fine powder that was then packaged and sold as 'Torgo's Executive Powder,' a product with a million and one uses.
** Fox is repeatedly the target of jabs during the series. Such as this exchange from "When Aliens Attack":
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'''Technician''': Well, it's a Fox affiliate. }}
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'''Fry''': Pfft, like [[Exact Words|anyone on Earth]] cares. }}
* ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'' took aim at network execs in general in its very first episode:
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Buster: "Which means it should take US... about as long as this next commercial break!" }}
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* ''[[Invader Zim]]'' had a minor character named 'Nick' who was created as a symbol for [[Nickelodeon]]. Nick had various disturbing science experiments performed on him by the main character. Considering that Nick was perpetually happy, it might be a jab at how Nickelodeon disliked the dark stuff ''Zim'' was putting out, instead living in an eternally happy rainbow land.
* Yet another Fox example occurred from J Jonah Jameson on ''[[Spider-Man: The Animated Series]]'': "All the networks are laughing at me. Even FOX!"
* In the "Cartoon Wars" episodes of ''[[South Park]]'', the creators had a very public disagreement with Comedy Central over their right to visually portray the Islamic prophet Mohammad in their show, after a French satirical magazine was fire-bombed by terrorists for doing just that. The episode is essentially an extended debate between freedom of speech (in regards to comedy and satire) and censorship in the name of political correctness. During the scene where Mohammad was supposed to appear, South Park inserted a neutral title card stating (truthfully) that Comedy Central had ultimately refused to allow Mohammad to be show. The irony was that South Park had featured Mohammad as a character in the episode "Super Best Friends" and had him hidden in the title sequence of the show for the last two seasons.
* When ever an evil corporation is mentioned in ''[[Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law]]'', a little neon sign turns on the background saying "An AOL/TimeWarner company."
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[The words "An AOL/Time Warner Co." appear on the bar's sign in the background.] }}
* ''[[Aqua Teen Hunger Force]]'':
** After the original version of the episode was rejected for not meeting Broadcast Standards and Practices guidelines, the
** A filmstrip that makes its point by showing the incorrect and then the correct way ''[[Crosses the Line Twice|to blow a nun's head off]]''.
** Another example in the one hundredth episode has Shake trying to push the show's merchandise at the Adult Swim Shop, saying they "sell all our stuff for more than you can buy in other places."
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** The ending of "Don't Touch That Dial" is probably the show's [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]]. After chastizing a toddler for vegetating to "electronic pablum," Mighty Mouse turns to us and says "But enough of all this lying and hypocrisy. Time for what television's ''really'' about." Cut to commercial.
* The beginning of "Tortoise Beats Hare" has Bugs Bunny reading the credits out loud. He blows his top after seeing the cartoon title:
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* "Blooper Bunny" has [[Daffy Duck]] kvetching about his role in the Bugs Bunny 51
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* After ''[[
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Treacherous Dogs.
* ''[[Duckman]]'' frequently made jabs at the USA Network.
* ''[[Eek!
* The years when ''[[Daria]]'' was on the N! network... whose other shows oozed the same dumb popularity-obsessed teen attitude that Daria mocked.
* ''[[Rocky and Bullwinkle]]'' has been known to poke fun at their producers on occasion. Example:
{{quote|
'''Bullwinkle:''' Ratings down in the show again?
'''Rocky:''' No.
'''Bullwinkle:''' That's odd.
'''Rocky:''' I'm worried because there have already been two attempts on your life.
'''Bullwinkle:''' Oh, don't worry. We will be renewed.
'''Rocky:''' I'm not talking about the Bullwinkle Show.
'''Bullwinkle:''' You had better; we could use the publicity. }}
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'''Bullwinkle:''' Sure. "A bomb" is what some people call our show!
'''Rocky:''' (''miffed'') I didn't think that was very funny.
'''Bullwinkle:''' (''looking to camera'') Neither did ''they,'' apparently.
* In one scene from ''[[Amphibia (TV series)|Amphibia]]'' (a cartoon produced by [[Disney]]) Polly goes into a store in the mall where kids can construct their own stuffed animals. After perusing the available pieces, she finds a nose-mouth piece that resembles that of Mickey Mouse. "Eh, no thanks," she says and tosses it aside.
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[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]
[[Category:Insult Tropes]]
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