No Celebrities Were Harmed: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

Sometimes a character's entire shtick will be that he or she is a thinly disguised imitation of some celebrity somewhere. The more blatant examples will often have a parody of that celebrity's name. This can be done for various reasons, such as to serve as a homage and/or parody, to make a point using the character (see picture to the right), or simply because the writers think that it would be cool. Though some consider it done because the writers are out of ideas.

 

Compare [[Ink Suit Actor]], where a celebrity voices an animated caricature of himself. [[Comic Book Fantasy Casting]] is a much milder version of this, where a real actor or other celebrity is used as a guide for a character's appearance but with no attempt to caricature their persona. See also [[Lawyer-Friendly Cameo]], [[No Communities Were Harmed]], and [[Adam Westing]]. [[Tuckerization]] is the inverse. If it's a fictional character that's being imitated, then it's an [[Expy]] or [[Captain Ersatz]]. Does not apply in the case of adaptations of live-action source materials, where the character designs are obliged to be based on the real actors.

{{examples}}

* ''[[Fist of the North Star]]''

** Kenshiro has traits drawn from [[Mel Gibson]], [[Bruce Lee]], and [[Sylvester Stallone]].

** Not to mention Spandam, who bears a remarkable similarity to [[Mick Foley]] during his "Mankind" days in the WWE.

** There's also Ivankov, who's basically [[Tim Curry]] as Dr. Frank-N-Furter of ''The [[Rocky Horror Picture Show]]''.

** It goes on. [[Word of God]] says that Franky is based off [[Jim Carrey]]. Each of the Three Admirals is based off a famous Japanese actor known for playing gangsters. [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Trafalgar Law]] looks like ''The Pickup Artist'' of all people. It's practically a [[Running Gag]] at this point.

** Vice-Admiral Garp's right hand man is based off Humphrey Bogart. He's even called Bogart.

* The dub of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'' mines the ever-loving hell out of celebrity impersonations, especially for Duel Spirits. Neo-Spacian Ground Mole is Art Carney; the Ojama Trio (Green, Yellow and Black) are an approximation of the Three Stooges, Crystal Beast Emerald Turtle is essentially a really poor [[Woody Allen]], and Crystal Beast Amber Mammoth is possibly the worst [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] the world has ever heard.

** It's present in the original series, too. Pegasus' love of Toon monsters is easily explained when you consider that his favorite movie appears to be ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]''? (Check out his email avatar sometime!)

** Two other noteworthy examples are Impmon, who sounds exactly like Joe Pesci, and Piedmon, who is made to sound like a higher-pitched [[Tim Curry]]. Incidentally, both are voiced by [[Derek Stephen Prince]].

** One fan actually compiled a [http://digipedia.db-destiny.net/misc/trivia.htm#2 LIST of all of them.] About 24 total.

* Another dub example: an episode of the ''[[Pokémon]]'' anime featured Dr. Quackenpoker, who was such a blatant Groucho Marx parody that I think the original animators were in on the joke too, because he even ''looked'' the part.

** Not to mention an early recurring character named Speilbunk, a very self-congratulatory film director.

* Kaito and Gackto of ''[[Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch]]'' are both drawn from famous male J-artists, their names being the biggest clue.

* One minor character in ''[[Monster (manga)|Monster]]'' is a serial killer named Peter Jurgens with a severe [[Freudian Excuse]], whom Johan manipulated into killing one set of his foster parents. Jurgens is a dead ringer for real-life serial killer Edmund Kemper, who also had rather grievous parental issues (his mother was one of his last victims).

* Japan periodically has scheduled blackouts to conserve electricity. One chapter of the ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]'' manga has this, but has the Tokyo Electric Company portrayed as [[The Bridge]], complete with [[Bridge Bunnies]] and the director dressed up as [[The Captain]], spouting stock lines from military anime. The disclaimer at the bottom reads:

* The manga ''Eagle: The Making of an Asian-American President'', set in a fictionalized version of the 2000 U.S. Presidential race, prominently features incumbent Vice President Al ''Noah'', along with the ambitious First Lady "''Ellery''", along with her unnamed-yet-familiar-looking husband.

* ''[[Air Gear]]'' had U.S. Presidential candidate "John Omaha", an ersatz [[Barack Obama]], appear in one story. Omaha has reappeared in a recent storyline as President-Elect, where he {{spoiler|somehow ended [[Freaky Friday|switching minds with]] [[Beta Couple|Emily]]. Did we mention that he's an expert skater?}}

** Non-dub example, one episode spoofed the Harry Potter craze and an ersatz of [[J. K. Rowling]] appeared in Cappy Town due to it.

* The author of ''[[Space Adventure Cobra]]'' admitted that Cobra's character design was largely based on French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo, who was specialized during the 70's in tough, charming and witty roles.

* In ''[[Street Fighter II]] V'', Nash appearance doesn't look like to the games (the show was made before ''[[Street Fighter Alpha]]''), instead, he holds a likeness with the french actor ''[[Jean Reno]]''

** Another Filipino dub joke - this time in [[Hajime no Ippo]] - has someone telling Takamura that he looks like an alcohol salesman while wearing a boxing referee's outfit. This is a reference to Carlos Padilla, Jr. - Takamura's retort is also a blatant nod to the alcohol commercial's tagline. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx5CE8ZypAM This is the commercial], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p8oBSaaqfM and this is the scene where the] [[Shout-Out]] occurs. (Judging by the subtitles, this might also be a [[Woolseyism]].)

* In the classic seventies shoujo manga ''[[From Eroica with Love]]'', main character Dorian Red Gloria and three of his henchmen are physically modeled after the members of [[Led Zeppelin]]. (In fact, the henchmen are all named after band members: James (Jimmy Page), Bonham (John Bonham) and John Paul (John Paul Jones.) Leaving, of course, Robert Plant as Dorian.)

* ''[[Ergo Proxy]]'': The Great Amy Lee Debacle. The secondary main-character of Ergo Proxy, Re-l Mayer is the [http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/2508/ergoproxyamylee.jpg spitting image] of Evanescences' vocalist, Amy Lee. It is unclear if it was actually intended or not, but many fans agree the startling similarity is just too much to be coincidental.

* Many of the characters in ''[[Beck]]'' are based on actual musicians. Chiba the punk/rap vocalist for Beck is based in attitude, style, and appearance on Zach de la Roca. While Taira, the bassist, possesses much of the style and mannerisms of Flea from [[Red Hot Chili Peppers]] (who just happen to be [[Write Who You Know|the creator's favorite band]].)

** Gai sounds like Elvis in the dub? I want you guys to see and hear Chikara. Even Word of God says it: His appearance is similar to many Elvis impersonators. Particularly those that impersonate Elvis's Las Vegas years, when he put on a great deal of weight. In the English dub, his voice is based on Elvis Presley.

** Killer Bee was supposedly inspired by the [[Wu-Tang Clan]]

* ''Noritaka''. Its final arc, and arguably the worst one, features a streetfighting contest, and the main character will confront Sting, Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger and some more celebrities. They're called by their names, with little or none variations (e.g., Sting is a Police man...)

* ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'' has a number of minor characters who, for one reason or another, look suspiciously like known actors or other noteworthy individuals. Examples include Ben Jackson (Forest Whitaker), Karina's teacher ([[Steven Spielberg]]), Karina's manager ([[Robert Downey, Jr.]]), and the Mayor ([[Barack Obama]]).

* ''[[Afganisu-tan]]'' is pretty much an exact replica of "Afghan Girl" from the famous National Geographic cover.

 

* Spider Jerusalem from ''[[Transmetropolitan]]'' is future Hunter S. Thompson.

* ''[[Cerebus the Aardvark]]'': Even after outgrowing its [[Cerebus Syndrome|Conan-parody beginning]], the series continued to feature parody characters and thinly veiled celebrities, Lord Julius (Groucho Marx), Dirty Drew and Dirty Fleagle McGrew (Yosemite Sam) and Adam Weisshaupt (named after the historical figure credited with founding the Bavarian Illuminati). For extra efficiency, Dave Sim created an Elric parody ''and'' a Senator Claghorn/Foghorn Leghorn homage in the form of Elrod the Albino.

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'': The first two issues of IDW publishing's ongoing feature a character named "Archie Maplin", obviously based on [[Charlie Chaplin]]. Chaplin himself was originally supposed to appear in the story, however the publishers were unable to get the rights from his estate.

* Lucas Lee of ''[[Scott Pilgrim]]'' is clearly based on [[My Name Is Earl|Jason]] [[The View Askewniverse|Lee]], in both name and appearance, and they are also both professional skateboarders who became actors.

* A ''[[Superman]]'' story featured various talkshows discussing Lex Luthor's apparent death. These included the sensationalist ''Ronaldo'' and the mawkish ''Susie Jamie Donatello''.

* In [[The Punisher]]'s spin-off miniseries about his nemesis The Barracuda, mobster 'Big Chris' Angelone has both the appearance and speech patterns of [[Christopher Walken]].

* The original [[Shazam|Captain Marvel]] from Fawcett (and now owned by DC) was explicitly modeled on [[My Three Sons|Fred MacMurray]].

 

* The maggot companion of the ''[[Corpse Bride]]'' is a dead ringer for [[Peter Lorre]].

* ''[[Citizen Kane]]'' is infamously a not-quite-thickly-veiled-enough version of media titan William Randolph Hearst. Hearst came down upon the movie and everyone associated with it like a sledgehammer. [[Orson Welles]]' career never quite recovered.

* In ''Any Given Sunday'', John C. McGinley plays outspoken sports personality Jack Rose, a take on real-life outspoken sports personality Jim Rome.

** Just about everything in that movie was a case of this trope. The Miami Dolphins versus the Dallas Cowboys? No, instead we have the Miami ''Sharks'' versus the Dallas ''Knights''.

* The 1980s vampire movie ''[[Fright Night]]'' has a character who is an actor/horror show host (played by Roddy McDowell). His character's name on the horror show ''Fright Night'' is Peter Vincent - a homage to [[Peter Cushing]] and [[Vincent Price]].

* In a rare live-action example, most of the humor if not the entire premise of ''[[Galaxy Quest]]'' is lost if you don't realize that Tim Allen is [[William Shatner]] (although really, the entire cast qualifies).

** As well as Hugh Grant as [[American Idol|a boorish British showrunner/judge of the titular singing competition.]]

* ''All Good Things'' is a fictionalization of the story of the [[wikipedia:Robert Durst|Durst case]] in which every name was changed except, for some reason, [[wikipedia:Daniel Patrick Moynihan|Pat Moynihan]]'s

* [[Kurt Russell]] admittedly based his performance as Jack Burton in ''[[Big Trouble in Little China]]'' more or less entirely on [[John Wayne]], and his performance as Snake Plissken in ''[[Escape from New York]]'' more or less entirely on [[Clint Eastwood]].

* Benicio Del Toro said he gets a lot of inspiration from the style of [[Dustin Hoffman]] and based his performance as Fenster in ''[[The Usual Suspects]]'' outright on Hoffman as Mumbles in ''[[Dick Tracy]]''.

* ''[[Diamonds Are Forever]]'' has Willard Whyte, a stand-in for Howard Hughes (who was a friend of [[James Bond (film)|series producer]] Albert R. Broccoli - he even suggested the plot after dreaming he went to visit Hughes and found an impostor instead - and didn't get offended, to the point he helped with the Vegas locations).

** Later, ''[[Tomorrow Never Dies]]'' has a slightly corrupt media mogul as the villain (many guessed Rupert Murdoch, but the writer claimed to be aiming at Robert Maxwell instead).

* ''Shrek'': The villain from the first movie, Lord Farquaad, is widely rumoured to be modelled on Disney's then-CEO Michael Eisner, as a [[Take That]] on the part of the film's executive producer (and former Disney executive) Jeffrey Katzenberg.

 

* ''[[The Devil Wears Prada]]'': The character of Miranda Priestley, editor of Runway magazine, is ''Vogue'' editor Anna Wintour with a different name and a scarf instead of sunglasses. In the [[The Film of the Book|film adaptation]], the character of Miranda was softened to make her "more realistic", but the decor of her office was still based on that of Wintour.

* ''[[Destroyer]]'': Roxanne Roug-Elephante is Roseanne Barr.

* Charles Bukowski's ''Hollywood'' is full of these, ranging from the relatively subtle and well-disguised (Dennis Hopper becomes Mack Austin, [[David Lynch]] is Manz Loeb, Mickey Rourke gets rebranded as Jack Blesdoe) to the ludicrously blunt (Jack Kerouac as Mack Derouac anyone? Welsh, Vegas-based singer Tab Jones, perhaps? No? Perhaps you'd prefer Francis Ford Lopolla?).

* ''[[Doctor Who]]''

* ''Step on a Crack'' includes analogues of at least Oprah Winfrey (who exists in the book) and [[Britney Spears]] - the latter turns up to a funeral in a mini-skirt and in an attempt to distract a hostage-taker offers him sex, leading to the comment:

{{quote|"Wow, you're even dirtier than your videos!"}}

** "You Don't Have To Be Mad..." features a [[Bedlam House]] where inmates are taught to focus their insanity in specific ways, the [[Big Bad]] believing that madness will be a way of life in [[The Eighties]], and his patients will be the leaders. In the asylum they're known by nicknames based on their real names and their particular insanities, including the sociopathic Mrs Empty (M.T. - [[Margaret Thatcher]]); the egomaniac Rumour (Ru-Mur - [[Rupert Murdoch]]) and the quiet killer Peace (P.S. - Peter Sutcliffe).

** "The Serial Murders" parodies the concept with thinly disguised versions of celebrities appearing in a [[Soap Within a Show|soap opera]] that is actually a voodoo ritual. When the soap kills the characters, the celebrities ''are'' harmed.

* ''The Man in the Ceiling'' by Jules Feiffer has Uncle Lester, writer of "floperoo" musicals that invariably fail, who seems based on [[wikipedia:Edwin Lester|Edwin Lester]], the impresario whose productions for the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera were synonymous with "floperetta."

* ''[[Letters Back to Ancient China]]'' has one poet whom the narrator calls "[http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigi_Sommer Si-gi who only writes during summer]". Also a minister who's only mentioned as "[[Take That|demonic southern barbarian]]".

 

* ''[[Father Ted]]'':

** Several one-episode characters are based on real Irish celebrities: BBC TV host Henry Sellars (based on Terry Wogan), sickly sweet balladeer Eoin McLove (Daniel O'Donnell), militant feminist anti-Catholic singer Niamh Connolly (Sinéad O'Connor) and the terrifying Bishop Brennan (Bishop Éamon Casey) -- both bishops having a secret son.

** Henry Sellars is informed by the lesser-known Henry Kelly of Going for Gold fame.

* ''[[iCarly]]'': ''iFix a Popstar'' with Ginger Fox, who is a rather obvious parody of [[Britney Spears]].

** ''iCook'' has Ricky Flame, a parody of Bobby Flay.

** There were a few ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'' [[Monster of the Week|monsters of the week]] like this. Fang and Vampirus were both [[Peter Lorre]] impressions, the Lizzinator was [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]], and Dischordia was [[Ethel Merman]].

* In ''[[Doctor Who]],'' the American president, who was strikingly reminiscent of [[George W. Bush]], tries to take over the situation and eventually gets vaporized by the [[Big Bad]]. After the [[Reset Button]] gets hit on the villain's epic evil, this is the one thing to not be undone.

** This approaches [[Truth in Television]] - Bartlet is essentially an idealized Clinton, and Clinton did win handily in both of his races. Remove the sex scandals and [[Canon Sue|add a Nobel prize]], and this is wholly reasonable.

** Also, the writers based late-season presidential candidate Matt Santos partially off of Barack Obama (combined with other sources, as Obama had never served in the military, unlike Santos) and Republican Candidate Arnie Vinick has been admitted to be a thinly-veiled version of John McCain.

*** Which makes a whole lot of sense considering the last episode aired in 2006.

** Several other celebrities/politicians are given analogues in the ''West Wing'' universe; the list is probably too extensive to bother enumerating in detail. However, Josh Lyman more or less being [[Jerkass Stu|Rahm]] [[Memetic Badass/Real Life|Emanuel]] is worth mentioning.

* ''[[Beetleborgs]]'' has Flabber the phasm who, according to the producers, was based on [[Elvis Presley]] but to some resembled ''[[The Tonight Show]]'' host Jay Leno, but has the mannerisms of [[Jim Carrey]].

** In one episode of ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'', a picture of Flabber was sent to Leno during the Monday headlines segment. It got laughs from the audience, but Leno was not too pleased.

** Larry King has appeared on ''SVU'' and ''Criminal Intent''. Talk show host “Barry Bishop” has appeared on the original show.

*** There was that one guy in ''SVU'', an eccentric billionaire toymaker, whose behavior resembles that of [[Michael Jackson]].

*** Kristy Swanson in “Bombshell” on ''Criminal Intent''.

* An episode of ''[[Passions]]'' featured a character called Hanna Nicola Smythe, a female character who was clearly based on Anna Nicole Smith.

* In the ''[[Supernatural]]'' episode "Criss Angel Is a Douche Bag," Criss Angel never shows up, but the show makes fun of him through a character named Jeb Dexter, an incredibly arrogant magician who bears an incredible resemblance to Criss Angel and does card tricks that are staged like fake demon possessions (which really upsets Dean). He dies horribly, of course.

** The show also makes fun of him, quietly, by ''naming the episode [[Refuge in Audacity|Criss Angel Is A Douche Bag]]''

* ''[[Odyssey 5]]''. At one stage the Odyssey team consult an abrasive sci-fi writer who is clearly based on [[Harlan Ellison]] (who conceived the series). As they can't tell him the truth (that they've travelled back in time five years to avert the destruction of the Earth) the team pretends they're writing a science fiction novel. The sci-fi writer goes into detail on how cliched and scientifically implausible their 'novel' is.

* In the fourth season opener of ''[[The Unit]]'', the team has to save President-Elect Benjamin Castille, who appears to a Latino version of Obama. By this logic, Dick Cheney and Joe Biden are killed by terrorists.

* It's pretty damn hard to believe that Elliot from ''[[Scrubs]]'' wasn't intentionally based on [[Sylvia Plath]].

* Baxter Sarno in ''[[Caprica]]'' is essentially an amalgamation of Jay Leno and [[Jon Stewart]] - with a little bit of an emphasis on the latter. Also played by [[Patton Oswalt]].

* On ''[[Shake It Up]]'' in the episode "Age It Up", the 16-year-old pop sensation Justin Starr is an obvious [[Expy]] of [[Justin Bieber]].

** Another [[Disney Channel]] show, ''[[Kickin It]]'', has Ricky Weaver who a more obvious parody of Bieber. He also probably counts as a [[Take That]] to Justin Bieber, since he turns out to secretly be a jerk.

* In the TV mini-series ''[[Black Mirror (TV series)|Black Mirror]]'' the first episode features a Royal Princess getting kidnapped. Depending on who you ask it's either Princess Diana or Kate Middleton.

* ''[[Castle]]'' has a couple of examples, the most blatant being in "Pretty Dead" with a rich beauty pageant organizer with a comb over that looks suspiciously like [[Donald Trump]].

* ''[[Thunderbirds]]'' did this frequently. Its small cast of voice artists would use celebrity impressions to fill out the supporting cast roster. Additionally, many of the main cast puppets were loosely modeled on contemporary ('60s) actors. Scott Tracy was modeled on [[Sean Connery]], Jeff Tracy on Lorne Greene.

* Francis Matthews used a "[[Cary Grant]] voice" for [[Captain Scarlet]]. Sorces vary on whether the puppet itself was modelled on Grant [[Ink Suit Actor|or Matthews]].

* [[Norm MacDonald]]'s title character in the short-lived ''A Minute with Stan Hooper'' is an obvious expy of [[60 Minutes|Andy Rooney]].

* On ''[[Jessie]]'', the Ross family is a clear parody of [[Brad Pitt]] and [[Angelina Jolie]]'s family. The Rosses have 3 adopted children, two of which are adopted from foreign countries and one biological one. All they need is biological twins.

** Although the lady herself says Taylor's "[https://twitter.com/haydenpanettier/status/205413220096294912 a little nicer]"...

 

* This is the bread and butter of many [[Filk Song|Filk/Dementia]] artists, including [[The Great Luke Ski]].

* The [[Animated Music Video]] to [[Disturbed]]'s "[[Genesis (band)|Land of Confusion]]" cover features a (possible) Zakk Wylde look-alike, amongst others. Could be a reference to the original video, which featured multiple celebrity puppets.

* [[Jon Lajoie]]'s WTF Collective 1 and 2 have this. MC Fatigue is Sean Paul, MC Final Verse is 50 Cent, MC Confusing is probably [[Lil Wayne]], MC Inappropriate Rhymes is probably [[Kanye West]], and the Chorus Guy is supposed to represent how rap songs will have some random non-rapper sing the chorus.

* Beatallica (a satirical band performing mashups of [[The Beatles]] and [[Metallica]]) already has a singer who does a dead-on James Hetfield... and they fall straight on this in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fLYlYdmP3c "And I'm Evil"], featuring a [[The Misfits|Glenn]] [[Danzig]] soundalike. ("Am I Evil" was not by one of Danzig's bands, [[Rule of Funny|but...]])

 

* ''[[Pogo (comic strip)|Pogo]]'' : Many of the [[Funny Animal]] characters are obvious caricatures of politicians, e.g. Simple J. Malarkey = Sen. Joseph McCarthy. (This was heavily Lampshaded in the ''[[Mad Magazine|MAD]]'' parody "Gopo Gossum.")

* ''[[Doonesbury]]'' loves this. Particularly Uncle Duke, who is just [[Hunter S. Thompson]]. Lampshaded when Duke reads that [[Hunter S. Thompson]] has committed suicide and his head explodes, repeatedly. He's got no idea why.

* ''[[Bloom County]]'' had a story arc about the cast hosting a concert. While most of the musicians were real-life people and bands ([[Van Halen]], [[The Police]], [[Culture Club]], etc.), there was also "Tess Turbo and the Blackheads", an obvious take on "[[Joan Jett]] and the Blackhearts"

 

* [[WCW]] had Oklahoma, which was a cruel imitation of [[Jim Ross]] after his Bell's Palsy attack. [[Dude, Not Funny|Naturally, everyone found it in bad taste and it was quickly scrapped.]]

* [[John Morrison]] (really "John Hennigan," and the former "Johnny Nitro") is a pretty blatant clone of Jim Morrison of The Doors? When he first appeared as a heel in the summer of 2007, he even quoted Doors lyrics ("Some are born to sweet delight / And some are born to endless night") and at one point [[Large Ham|outright scream-sang]]: "I set the night on ''fire''!" The character mellowed quite a bit after Hennigan turned face, and now is more of a knowing tribute to Jim Morrison instead of essentially his long-lost relative.

** The only weird thing about the gimmick was that his theme song was inspired by Jimi Hendrix more than The Doors.

** Many fans started speculating that the CM stood for Charles Manson. And when he was a commentator, he actually wore a Charles Manson t-shirt.

 

* Adam Armstrong, the Prime Minister in the first three seasons of [[The BBC]] ''Afternoon Play'' strand ''Number Ten'', was a New Labourite with elements of both [[Tony Blair]] and [[Gordon Brown]]. After stepping down, he is replaced in the 2010 season by Simon Laitey, [[David Cameron|the Eton-educated leader of a Conservative Party in coalition with the Lib Dems]].

* Comedy duo [[Hudson and Landry]] had a few skits with impressions of celebrities, like [[Marx Brothers|Groucho Marx]] and W.C. Fields.

* Cecilia Pollard, who appears in the [[Big Finish]] Gallifrey audio drama ''A Blind Eye'', is pretty clearly Unity Mitford.

 

* In ''[[Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat]]'', the Pharaoh of Egypt is a parody of [[Elvis Presley]].

* Likewise, Rum Tum Tugger in ''[[Cats]]'' is styled after [[Mick Jagger]].

* Freddie Trumper, the [[Jerkass]] American chess player in ''[[Chess (theatre)|Chess]]'', is supposed to be a Bobby Fischer expy. The Russian player, Anatoly Sergievsky, was initially based on Boris Spassky but the resemblance decreased every time the musical was rewritten.

* ''[[Of Thee I Sing]]'': Apparently, some reviews of the original production noticed a resemblance between John P. Wintergreen (as played by William Gaxton) and Jimmy Walker, then mayor of New York City (and part-time songwriter), which may have been denied. All but openly acknowledged, though, was that all nine Supreme Court Judges were made up like Oliver Wendell Holmes.

 

* ''[[Mass Effect]]'': The default male face of Shepard is based on Dutch model Mark Vanderloo.

* The original ''[[Metal Gear]]'' featured a cover artwork that was obviously traced from a publicity still of Michael Biehn in ''[[Terminator]]'', while the original MSX2 release of ''Metal Gear 2'' featured character portraits obviously ripped from actual photographs of celebrities (notably with Solid Snake as [[Mel Gibson]], Grey Fox as [[Tom Berenger]] and Big Boss as [[Sean Connery]]).

* The NES game ''[[Maniac Mansion]]'' features a character called Wink Smiley, who is a talk show host clearly based on Jay Leno. He looks exactly like a young Jay and even has Jay's chin.

* Quite a few male characters in video games resemble [[David Bowie]], including Raziel from the ''[[Legacy of Kain]]'' games, and even the [[Pokémon]] Zangoose, which has an Aladdin Sane lightning bolt-esque design on one side of its face.

** Emperor Mateus Palmecia from ''[[Final Fantasy II]]'' GREATLY resembles Bowie's character Jareth from ''[[Labyrinth]]''. His English voice actor evidently picked up on this, as his performance is very similar to Bowie's. Plus, there's the fact that his gameplay in ''Dissidia'' is based entirely around setting up traps.

*** Speaking of ''[[Final Fantasy]]'', [[Final Fantasy VIII|Squall]]'s appearance was based on popular J-Rock artist [[Gackt]].

** If Raphael from ''[[Soul Series|Soulcalibur II]]'' and ''III'' doesn't look like [[David Bowie]], I don't know who the hell does (Mr. Bowie excluded). It's been way toned down in ''SCIV'', though, in part because Raphael is now much buffer.

* El Blaze from ''[[Virtua Fighter]]'' greatly resembles WWE [[Professional Wrestling|professional wrestler]] Rey Mysterio.

** Actually, Bass Armstrong is modeled after Stan "The Lariat" Hansen (as was "Macho" Mike Haggar from ''[[Final Fight]]'' and ''[[Saturday Night Slam Masters]]''; in fact, many Japanese-made wrestling game main characters that people confused for Hogan analogues were actually based off of Hansen) and made to look like [[Hulk Hogan]] (mostly the nWo version). This makes things even MORE confusing when Bass's daughter Tina ends up resembling Hogan's (decidedly NON-wrestling) daughter Brooke.

** There is also Zack who is clearly based on Dennis Rodman

** Courtney Gears from the same game is a robotic stand-in for [[Britney Spears]], who sings songs about [[Kill All Humans|killing all humans]] to a [[Lyrical Dissonance|catchy pop beat]].

* The Radical Entertainment games in the ''[[Crash Bandicoot]]'' series does this a lot: Crunch Bandicoot is [[Mr. T]], Doctor N. Gin is [[Peter Lorre]] (although it can be argued he was based on Lorre to begin with), Tiny Tiger is Mike Tyson, the Ratnicians are an army of Jerry Lewises, Chick Gizzard Lips is Howard Cosell and some of the Park Drones consist of Andrew Dice Clay, [[Boris Karloff]], W.C. Fields, and Charlton Heston.

*** You are actually referring to the Big Bad from Doom 2.

* Many fans suspect Alexandra Chilton from ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV]]'' is a thinly veiled parody of Paris Hilton...

* In the fantasy game ''[[Alundra]]'', there is a character named Jaylen who resembles Jay Leno and has a similar taste in cars.

* In the game ''[[First Encounter Assault Recon|F.E.A.R.]]'', there is a character named Norton Mapes who is clearly based on the late great [[John Candy]].

** [http://highres.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/180px-norton-mapes.jpg Or] [http://dcairns.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/harry.jpg Harry Knowles]...

* Are you sure that ''[[Elite Beat Agents]]'' didn't name its muscular baseball hero "Hulk Bryman" to avoid a lawsuit from Barry Bonds?

{{quote|'''Hulk:''' "[[Catch Phrase|You bet, kid!]]"}}

** Both the second and fifth games in the series feature another [[Peter Lorre]]-based character named Ugarte (it's much more obvious in the fifth game.)

** The first game threw in [[The Three Stooges]] as brigands.

** Johnny is even moreso based off of [[Nicolas Cage]]. His profile in earlier games bore the likeness of Mr. Cage and Johnny's real name is even Jonathan Carlton (similar to how the other Cage's real name is Nicolas Coppola).

** Also, the makers of ''[[Mortal Kombat 2]]'' had once considered adding another female kombatant who was based on kickboxing champion Kathy Long, but she ended up not making the final cut.

* The DS remakes of the ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' games featured new character artwork. Alena, rechristened a "Tsarevna" (Russian princess), and coming from a [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]] Russia, bears a striking resemblance to Tsarevna Anastasia Romanov. {{spoiler|Considering what happens to her father's kingdom, it's rather appropriate.}}

* Konami's 1991 arcade game ''[[Vendetta]]'' is possibly the only beat-em-up in which you can fight crime as <s>Mike Tyson</s> Blood, <s>Hulk Hogan</s> Hawk, <s>Jean Claude Van Damme</s> Boomer or even <s>Mr.T</s> Sledge.

** The same game also had a big black boxing champion nicknamed "The Masticator", who could bite off your ear during a boxing match against him.

* ''[[Grand Chase]]'''s final (as of Season 2, has now been removed for Season 3) PVE mission ([[Speed Run|finishing Xenia Frontier's Red and Violet forests on 3 star-difficulty under 15 minutes]]) has you trying to beat the dungeon-clearing record of one [[Indiana Jones|Indiana]] [[Harrison Ford|Ford]].

* Bill and Lance in the original ''[[Contra]]'' were blatantly based on [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] and [[Sylvester Stallone]].

** The backstory of ''Shattered Soldier'' echoes ''[[Demolition Man]]'' (which itself featured Stallone). Bill is accused of murdering his partner and causing "calamity on a global scale" with a superweapon, and is sentenced to [[Human Popsicle]] prison, but is temporarily thawed to take down his old partner turned nemesis since he is the only one powerful enough for the task.

* Flynn, the protagonist of forgettable first-person-shooter ''Devastation'', looks much like [[Eminem]].

* Apart from the "Bruce Lee as Marshall Law" example above, ''[[Tekken]]'' series have more not-celebrities: Raven is based on Wesley Snipes (in a weird mash-up of his ''[[Demolition Man]]'' and ''[[Blade]]'' movie personas), Craig Marduk is the actor/wrestler Nathan Jones and Lei Wulong is [[Jackie Chan]], to name just a few.

** In addition to those, we also have [[Paris Hilton|Haris Pilton]] (pictured), Ricole Nichie, and even ''[[Chuck Norris]]'' (pending as of November 2011 though).

* The fighting game ''Battle K-Road'' is a rather blatant example, featuring <s>[[Sylvester Stallone]]</s>Wolf alongside <s>[[Arnold Schwarzenegger]]</s>[[The Terminator|T-8P]] (who also has a [[Palette Swap|HeadSwap]] in the form of <s>[[The Terminator]]</s>D-9P).

* ''[[Resident Evil]]'' series

** ''[[Resident Evil 5]]'' : Albert Wesker not only has moves and clothes ripped right out of ''[[The Matrix]]'' but also has the mannerisms of the T-1000 from ''Terminator 2''. If you shoot him and he dodges, many times he will wag his finger at you like the T-1000 did to Sarah Conner near the end.

*** Leon himself also resembles and is probably named after DiCaprio. Claire Redfield's name may also be a reference to Claire Danes, DiCaprio's co-star in ''[[William Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet|Romeo + Juliet]]''.

** Some of the characters in ''[[Resident Evil Outbreak]]'' bear a certain resemblance to famous actors, especially the police officer who looks like Tom Cruise.

** From the remake of ''[[Resident Evil 1]]'' onwards, Jill's appearance has been based on Canadian actress Julia Voth.

* Kate Green in ''[[House of the Dead]] 4'' looks blatantly similar to [[Black Eyed Peas|Fergie]].

* Sgt Stacker ([[The Danza|voiced by Pete Stacker]]) in the ''[[Halo]]'' series is reminiscent of R. Lee Ermey.

* In ''[[Madden NFL]]'s'' recent editions, the designers created draft classes from scratch, often tossing in high-profile players still in college whose names and images they couldn't legally use. Like a scrambling QB from Florida named "Tim Tribow".

* In the first two ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'' games, the creator of the Demon Summoning Program is a crippled genius by the name of Steven who looks suspiciously like [[Stephen Hawking]].

 

* The titular character of ''[[King of the Unknown]]'' is clearly Elvis, though he is never named as such. Ever since a supernatural mishap transformed him (into a fat slob) and forced him to [[Elvis Lives|fake his death]], "the King" dedicated his new secret life to kicking supernatural ass for a [[The Men in Black]]-like [[Government Agency of Fiction]] known as the IRSU. Agent H, King's [[Mission Control]] at IRSU, is a similarly veiled and still-living [[Jimi Hendrix]]. Aside from the broad strokes, many small details are culled from the rock stars' lives to create these just-barely veiled versions.

* ''[[Looking for Group]]'': Possibly unintentional on the artist's part but Commander Kickass looks like [[Jack Kirby]].

* [http://kewlfilez.altervista.org/avventuredarth24.gif Jedi Springar] of ''[[Le Avventure del Grande Darth Vader]]'' is a lightsaber-wielding Jerry Springer.

* In ''[[Our Little Adventure]]'', a group that Julie needs to talk to in order to get the [[Plot Coupon|item she needs]] are fantasy counterparts to the original judges of [[American Idol]]

* In ''[[Fafnir the Dragon]]'',this trope only comes into play for fictional characters. Everyone else is presented as-is.

 

* ''[[The Nostalgia Chick]]'': The Chick does a dead-on parody of [[Sarah Palin]] when she is the vice president to [[The Nostalgia Critic]]'s president of ''[[Kickassia]]''. [[Klingon Promotion|She also tries to kill him to get his job.]]

* ''[[Bowser's Kingdom]]'': The Shy Guys are imitations of [[Christopher Walken]].

** For that matter, the Vindicators are an incompetent team parodying The Avengers: Kismet is a pushy, cranky Scarlet Witch in green; Lemure is a sullen Vision; Sizemax is an easily steamrollered Giantman; Donner is a dopey Thor; Dynamaxx is a horndog Iron Man; and Cerebrex is a crazed, incompetent Captain America.

 

* ''[[The Critic]]'': The [[Trope Namer]]. Jay's boss and network honcho Duke Phillips is a parody of Ted Turner. Jay himself is a pastiche of Gene Siskel and [[Roger Ebert]] (who [[Ink Suit Actor|played themselves]] in one episode). Also, his buddy Jeremy Hawke is said to be a combination of Paul Hogan and [[Mel Gibson]].

* ''[[Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' has Wes Weasely, an [[Honest John's Dealership|Honest John]] who shares [[The Phil Silvers Show|Phil Silvers]]' voice, clothes, and glasses.

*** The Robert DeNiro pigeon also had elements of his character from ''[[Taxi Driver]]'' ("Are you talkin' to me?")

*** The series also contained many other references to the works of Brando, Deniro, and Pesci, as well as numerous other gangster movies.

** In one episode of the series, the Warners push the buttons of a scowling television journalist named "Dan Anchorman," who bears a striking resemblance to ABC's Sam Donaldson. Dan is eventually pushed into a television set and forced to fight a blond professional wrestler named "Bulk Logan." Yeah, I don't think that one needs any explanation.

*** The Donaldson connection was made even more explicit by the character's name in the original script: Slam Fondlesome. Because of [[Executive Meddling]] over that supposedly risque name, they had to go back, change the name, and redub some of the dialogue.

** However, though you might think one-shot "Julie Bruin" falls here, she is actually voiced by Julie Brown (not "Downtown", the other one).

** And then there's [[Robin Williams|Robin Killems]].

** There were mouse versions of ''[[The Honeymooners]]'', and cat versions of [[Abbott and Costello]] who were named "Babbitt" and "Catsello".

** [[The Jack Benny Program|Jack Benny]], and the cast of his radio show, [[Ink Suit Actor|played themselves as mice]] for a Looney Tunes one-shot.

*** It is of note that Crosby took umbrage at the title figure of the 1936 cartoon "Bingo Crosbyana," which depicted him as a narcissistic coward (in the form of a housefly).

*** Bogey and "Baby" (Lauren Bacall) can also be seen in 1947's "Slick Hare".

** Several shorts featured caricatures of WB stars such as Edward G. Robinson and [[Peter Lorre]].

** Kublai Khan was [[Sylvester Stallone]].

** Marco Polo was Joe Pesci.

* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'':

** Chief Wiggum was initially an impression of Edward G. Robinson. This gets a [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshade]] in several episodes: "The Day the Violence Died", a trial episode where cartoon maker Roger Meyers, Jr. talks about this very trope; "Bart Gets An Elephant", where Wiggum dismisses a liquor store robbery report with "Yeah, right. and I'm Edward G. Robinson!"; and "Simpsons Bible Stories", where in the Moses story Wiggum stands in for Robinson's character in ''[[The Ten Commandments]]''.

*** Also referencing Robinson's role in ''[[The Ten Commandments]]'' in the episode "Homer Loves Flanders": "Where's your Messiah '''NOW''', Flanders?!"

** Dr. Julius Hibbert is a send-up of ''[[The Cosby Show]]'''s Dr. Cliff Huxtable (and, to a lesser extent, of [[Bill Cosby]] himself).

** Dr. Frink is an impression of [[Jerry Lewis]].

*** This was brought full circle in one of the "Treehouse of Horror" specials, where Lewis voiced Frink's dad.

*** Not to mention he himself points out that a cartoon character at a convention is a ripoff of [[Jerry Lewis]].

** Mayor Quimby is a send-up of the Kennedy family in general, but most closely based on Edward (Ted).

** Magicians Gunter and Ernst = Siegfried and Roy. In their debut episode, the duo were [[Funny Aneurysm Moment|attacked by one of the exotic cats used in their act]]. When asked about the parallel, the writers said, in effect, "it was bound to happen sooner or later."

** Heavyweight boxing champ Drederick Tatum and his manager Lucius Sweet are send-ups of Mike Tyson and Don King, respectively. This is lampshaded in the episode "The Homer They Fall":

{{quote|'''Homer:''' You know Lucius Sweet?! He's one of the biggest names in boxing! He's exactly as rich and as famous as Don King, and he looks just like him, too!}}

** Curiously, there's also an actor called Arnold Schwarzengerman (appearing in a superviolent remake of ''[[Hamlet]]'').

** Also the character of Big Daddy is a parody of James Gandolfini as [[The Sopranos|Tony Soprano]].

** Britney Britney

** Countless characters in the movie ''Channel Chasers.''

* ''[[Johnny Bravo]]'': Johnny's voice and speech patterns are a parody of [[Elvis Presley]], most notable in the way he says "Oh Momma". In the pilot episode, he went as far as to deep fry a peanut butter and banana sandwich.

** Also, later seasons featured Johnny's idol Squint Ringo, a laughably transparent parody of [[Steven Seagal]].

* ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (animation)|Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]'' features several examples of this trope.

** Stan Blather, a recurring background character, is a monotone news anchor who is a barely-disguised stand in for Dan Rather.

** In "Kiwi's Big Adventure", a kiwi chieftain speaks with the mannerisms and [[Catch Phrase|catch phrases]] of Ed Sullivan.

** In "Pie in the Sky", the villain's guard dogs are both based on [[Jack Nicholson]]. To the point of actually being named "Jack" and "Nichols".

* Similarly, an episode of ''[[The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius|Jimmy Neutron]]'' features a sleazy Hollywood director {{spoiler|Actually Professor Calamitous in disguise}} who happens to look ''exactly'' like [[Quentin Tarantino]].

** Well, the director's given name is Quentin Smithee. It's kinda obvious.

* An episode of ''[[Transformers]]'' involved a science fiction movie starring "Harold Edsel" and "Karen Fishhook", who bore suspiciously strong resemblances to [[Harrison Ford]] and Carrie Fisher, respectively. Interestingly, about twenty years later, Ford would make a more overt Transformers appearance: Hasbro produced a "[[Star Wars]] Transformers" toy line, with Han Solo as one of the featured characters. Even more interestingly, is what happened much sooner than that. In ''[[Transformers: The Movie]]'', Susan Blu, who voiced Karen Fishhook, would also provide the voice of one of the franchises most popular female characters, Arcee. [[Word of God]] has actually gone on to describe Arcee's character design as being "the robotic equivalent of a naked Princess Leia", the character Carrie Fisher is best known for.

*** Lampshaded in the Luke Ski filk song ''The Ballad of Optimus Prime'', where Luke takes a line [[Replacement Scrappy|to complain about Hot Rod's role]]: "We wanted John Wayne, and they gave us Judd Nelson!"

** Even ''[[Transformers Animated|Animated]]'' has this going on, with Ultra Magnus' voice being a rather good imitation of Robert Stack (who, not-so-coincidentally, played the original Magnus in the 1986 movie), and Ironhide being Corey Burton's best approximation of Huell Howser. Swindle's mannerisms are modeled after those of Ron Popeil, and Mixmaster sounds suspiciously like Joe Pesci (which is played up in a [[Whole-Plot Reference|Whole Episode Reference]] to ''[[Home Alone]]''). Highbrow has a similar accent, mustache, and gap in his tooth to [[wikipedia:Terry-Thomas|Terry-Thomas]]. [[Cowardly Lion|Grandus]] sounds like another Paul Lynde (and also [[Screams Like a Little Girl]]). Rattletrap sounds a lot like Lou Costello (which may or may not have been the inspiration for [[Beast Wars|Rattrap's]] accent, though it's at least less obvious with him).

** Radio is Jon Lovitz doing Walter Winchell, down to his [[Catch Phrase]] signoff.

* ''[[Swat Kats]]'' has David Litterbin- an obvious play on [[David Letterman]].

** In one episode there's an entertainer named Burt Rivendale who is clearly based on David Letterman even resembling him right down to the gap tooth.

* [[De Patie Freleng]] Enterprises' ''[[The Ant and the Aardvark]]'' cartoons featured John Byner voicing both of the title characters, using voices based on Dean Martin and Jackie Mason, respectively.

* ''[[Sabrina the Animated Series]]'' provides some more examples.

** "Dogumagicary" features a spider-like movie director named "[[Quentin Tarantino|Quentin Tarantulino]]".

** As does Shipwreck from ''[[G.I. Joe]]''.

* Several of Hasbro/Sunbow's [[Merchandise-Driven]] cartoons from the 1980s (''[[G.I. Joe]]'', ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'', ''[[Jem]]'', ''[[Inhumanoids]]'') feature a tabloid reporter named Hector Ramirez, an obvious Geraldo Rivera parody.

* ''[[Biker Mice From Mars]]'' has quite a few. The original series had Evil Eye Weevil who is a skeleton-like thing (he's a parody of [[Elvis Presley]] and Evil Knievel) and The X-Terminator who is a parody of [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]], Lawrence Limburger has a sister who is named after Latoya Jackson (one of [[Michael Jackson]]'s siblings) and the "Loogie Brothers" who are based off two characters played by Dana Carvey and Keaven Nealon on ''[[Saturday Night Live]]''. The 2006 revival has a villain named Ronaldo Rump who is a parody of multimillionaire Donald Trump (including the toupee and the multimillion dollar building franchise), he has a British cousin named Sir Richard Brand Something (a parody of Virgin Group company owner Sir Richard Branson). There's also a character that bares a resemblance to Rodney Dangerfield. Doctor Catorkian sounds suspiciously like [[Boris Karloff]].

* ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'' has had a few villains that parody famous characters, such as "Toiletnator" (Terminator), "Tony Clownarelli also known as Godclown" ([[Marlon Brando]] as [[The Godfather]]), "Count Spankulot" ([[Dracula]]). [[Big Bad|Father's]] voice was patterned after Kirk Douglas.

* ''[[Animalympics]]'' had this for the various news commentators and a few athletes. Henry Hummel borrows mannerisms from Henry Kissinger, Barbara Warbler is rather obviously Barbara Walters, and Lodge Turkell is Howard Cosell. On the side of the athletes, Bolt Jenkins is reminiscent of John Travolta's character from ''[[Saturday Night Fever]]'', and Joey Gongalong is obviously Muhammad Ali as a [[Boxing Kangaroo]].

* An episode of ''[[He-Man and the Masters of the Universe]]'' featured a scientist character who looked and sounded exactly like Jimmy Stewart.

* One episode of ''[[Dinosaurs]]'' featured [http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Edward_R._Hero Edward R. Hero], a pastiche of real-life journalist Edward R. Murrow, as a commentator in a political election between two horrible candidates. {{spoiler|In the end, the voters get fed up with both candidates and elect Edward by a landslide.}}

* ''[[Jem]]!'' was affected by this trope as well. All guest musicians in the "The Jam Jem" were based on real 1980s personalities.

* The ''[[American Dragon: Jake Long]]'' version of Santa Claus kind of sounds like Rodney Dangerfield.

* An episode of ''[[The Proud Family]]'' featured an ''[[American Idol]]''-type talent show where hopefuls audition to be the next star. The so-called "Real Randy Jackson" character of the three judges is a lot similar to 1980s Michael Jackson, and Perchival (voiced by [[Tim Curry]]) is a similar to Simon Cowell.

* ''[[Ren and Stimpy]]''

** Stimpy's voice is based on Larry Fine of ''[[The Three Stooges]]''.

* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' has The Boulder, a parody of both [[Dwayne Johnson|The Rock]] and [[Hulk Hogan]], down to being a [[Third Person Person]]. He's even voiced by actual wrestler Mick Foley.

** Colonel Horace Gentleman is basically [[Sean Connery]] with a dash of William S. Burroughs thrown in.

** Dr. Orpheus is a rather obvious caricature of [[Vincent Price]], which fits with his also being an [[Expy]] of [[Doctor Strange]] (see comic book folder).

* In the ''[[Wonder Pets]]'' they sometimes have this, in one episode they save a group of musical insects known as The Beetles (who are bug versions of Paul, John, George and Ringo), and in another one they meet up with the Rat Pack which are three rats named Sammy (Sammy Davis Jr), Blue Eyes ([[Frank Sinatra]]) and Dino (Dean Martin). And in "The Wonderpets Save the Hound Dog," they save a baby hound dog whose father is a dog version of Elvis Presley, who wears a pair of velvet booties and loves peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

* The ''[[Gummi Bears]]'' episode "For a Few Sovereigns More" had Duke Igthorn hire bounty hunter Flint Shrubwood to hunt down the eponymous bears. He also looks and behaves just like [[Clint Eastwood|Clint's]] Man With No Name.

* An episode of ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures]]'' has a [[Leonardo DiCaprio]] substitute. The same episode indicated that Jackie Chan [[Celebrity Paradox|is not known as an actor]] in this universe. Conversely, Uncle and Tohru are fans of [[John Wayne]].

* ''[[Celebrity Deathmatch]]'' brutally and ''beautifully'' averts this trope.

* ''[[South Park]]'' loves averting this trope, one of their defining characteristics is their parodying of celebrities by name. To the point where the 200th episode involves {{spoiler|every celebrity they've pastiched suing the makers of South Park}}.

* On Disney's ''[[The Schnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show]]'', the Polite Coyotes (''Tex Tinstar'' segment) were patterned after the Beatles.

* On ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'', Samy's [[Companion Cube]] puppet Humphrey von Sidekick has a voice patterned after Bing Crosby.

* Taz's dad in ''[[Taz-Mania]]'' was blatantly based on Bing Crosby right down to the nice glass of Ooooooo.J.

** And his brother Drew is Bob Hope, leading to several ''Road To...'' parodies.

* Mr. Bone from ''[[Doug]]'' had a voice that was very close to that of Barney Fife from ''[[The Andy Griffith Show]]'', as well as Fife's blind obsession with following rules, [[Obstructive Bureaucrat|no matter how trivial]].

** The super manly tennis player pony seen during "Call of the Cutie" and "Luna Eclipsed" seems to be based on former Tennis player Andre Kirk Agassi during his prime.

** Fashion designer Hoity Toity in "Suited For Success" is based on Karl Lagerfeld. (The same episode also references Greta Garbo's "I vant to be alone.")

** Photo Finish from "Green Isn't Your Color" is inspired by ''Vogue'' magazine editor Anna Wintour.

** The [[Cold Open]] to "Cutie Pox" takes place in a bowling alley, with Ponies that resemble The Dude, Walter, Donny, and The Jesus from ''[[The Big Lebowski]]''

* Knight Shade, a singer pony from the original ''[[My Little Pony]]'' cartoon, appears to have been based off [[Michael Jackson]].

** The ''[[DC Animated Universe]]'' is somewhat peppered with this, particularly for ''[[Justice League]]'' and ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]''. Because of the number of voices required with a limited cast, voice actors would break out voice imitations to make a more significant variety. Notably, Michael Rosenbaum's Deadshot was an imitation of [[Kevin Spacey]], and Phil Lamarr's version of Steel was somewhat based on [[Morgan Freeman]]. One of the Jokers in the ''[[Batman Beyond]]'' movie, and an episode of [[Justice League Unlimited]], had the voice of Christopher Walken.

* ''[[Code Lyoko]]'' has a thinly veiled James Cameron expy,the [[Small Name, Big Ego]] and alien movie to boot

* ''[[Birdz]]'' did this in nearly every episode with the names (e.g. "Steven Spielbird"), and sometimes went even further by actually showing their in-universe avian expy (one episode has a "Whippoorwill Smith" who's basically a bird version of, well, [[Will Smith]]).

* In ''[[World of Quest]]'', the titular Quest isn't voiced by Patrick Warburton, but it sure as hell '''sounds''' like he's voiced by Patrick Warburton.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:This Index Is Not an Example]]