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OP and thread credits go to badtothebaritone

Stock Parody Jokes is a trope that is ostensibly about jokes commonly featured in parodies of specific works. However, the vast majority of entries (40/50) are just the joke(s) and say little to nothing about the parodies actually using those jokes. Since so few actually involve the parody aspect, they feel more like Memes or Shout Outs than something more unique. I'm not sold on a single course of action yet, but here's a few that I and others have thought of:

Summary of Stock Wick Check Jokes:

  • 10/10 mention both the joke and the parody
  • 32/50 are just the joke
  • 2/50 don't even mention a specific joke
  • 6/50 are trope relationships

Wick check:

     Both the joke and the parodying work(s) (10/50) 
  1. MusicalHell.Tropes M To R - Musical World Hypotheses: Diva discusses this trope during her review of Cinderella (2021), after a joke where Cinderella acknowledges that she just sang a song a few minutes ago while talking to Fab G. Diva explains that unless there's a clear distinction between characters who sing and characters who don't sing in a musical, simply making jokes about how the characters point out when they randomly sing and dance at times is overused, and doesn't make the creators of a piece of work look like they know a lot about musicals. She points out a more favorable example of this kind of humor in an Affectionate Parody like Schmigadoon!, which specifically plays with the tropes used in musicals from the 40's and 50's.
  2. Funny.The Magnus Archives: Episode 110: Dexter Banks, the director in "Creature Feature" sacrificing people to the Web, appears to be a parody of Quentin Tarantino. This is hilariously appropriate when you realize that the Web is the patron of spiders and the whole foot fetish thing is a Stock Parody Joke of Tarantino's — Dexter is essentially serving the power with the most feet.
  3. Deconstruction.Film - Better Watch Out: This film is a deconstruction of the "Home Alone" Antics. One of the film's most memorable traps is replicated as an explicit Shout-Out and given a more "realistic" (read: bloody and fatal) result, and the "Kevin" stand-in is every bit as psychotic as the fandom jokes tend to paint McCallister as.
  4. Shame If Something Happened: "The raccoon moneylender who gives you your home loan being the local mafia don is the obvious Animal Crossing joke." - Page image caption, parodying work is the page image
  5. Redundant Parody: One of the Stock Parody Jokes about Batman is "what if Batman was inspired by something else when he decided to become a superhero?", which usually leads to some kind of jokey theme like "Shards of Glass Man" or "Curtain Man." There was a tongue-in-cheek What If? story that delved into the idea as early as 1974 (where various alternate Bruce Waynes take on the monikers of Scorpion, Owl, Shooting Star, Stingray, and Iron Knight), and it was rendered (sorta) canon in The Multiversity, where characters going by those identities who are clearly the local Batman equivalents show up.
  6. Dead Unicorn Trope - A very common joke about Pixar films is "the Pixar Mom", referring to the idea that all mothers in Pixar films have Hartman Hips. However, the only human mother character in a Pixar film to have the classic "stick waist and dumptruck ass" build is Elastigirl from The Incredibles. Most of the others (Andy's mom, Bonnie's mom, Queen Elinor, Jill Anderson, Luisa Rivera, Daniela Paguro, Ming Lee) have, at most, slightly stylized proportions with a pretty reasonable ratio of hips to waist, and some are outright chubby. Even among characters who are simply older women, it's difficult to name one who fits the bill; most of the more stylized examples (i.e. Mirage) are simply skinny all-around, and older Pixar films tend to have few to no human characters. Many examples brought up for the sake of the joke, such as Kate, aren't Pixar characters at all, being the work of Disney or a rival animation company.
  7. YMMV.The Flash - Stock Parody Jokes: Jokes about the Flash being a mediocre lover due to his speed are commonplace. It's to the point where various DC media have referenced the joke. Wally has even confirmed it as truth in one issue, though it's possible he was just making a Self Deprecating joke. The DCAU not only made a few references to this joke, but one memorable scene inverted it where Linda Park speculated that the Flash would be a sex god because of their stamina (a reminder, this was a kid's animated series).
  8. WebVideo.Jon Tron: The Weird World of PSAs takes a shot against the typical, overused "Mario drugs himself with mushrooms" jokes.
  9. CorruptedCharacterCopy.Live Action Film: The Big Bad of Better Watch Out is an evil version of Kevin McAllister from the Home Alone films, taking the popular fan interpretation of him as a budding sociopath who thoroughly enjoys the pain he inflicts on the Wet Bandits and running with it. Like Kevin, Luke Lerner is a smart kid who sets a ton of traps in his house to fend off a home invasion around Christmas. Unlike Kevin, Luke staged the entire thing in order to seduce his cute babysitter Ashley, and when she finds out what's really going on, he has her Bound and Gagged and kills multiple people — one of them (Ashley's boyfriend Ricky) with the famous paint can trap from Home Alone, here depicted realistically as something that could kill someone.
  10. YMMV.There Is No Game Wrong Dimension - Stock Parody Jokes: Being a Legend of Zelda parody, Legend of the Secret features the "Annoying Navi" fandom joke from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time—in the Free to Play version, Hero has to be woken up by a fairy alarm clock that looks just like her, and who's only able to say "Hey!" and "Listen!" on repeat until Hero turns her off. The fairy clock then puffs up in smoke.

     Just the joke, parodying work(s) not specified (32/50) 
  1. YMMV.Sabaton - Stock Parody Jokes: In "The Unkillable Soldier" music video, Adrian Carton de Wiart got wounded so many times on purpose, to be able to see again the pretty nurse.
  2. YMMV.Veggie Tales - Stock Parody Jokes:
    1. The characters dealing with some of the darker or controversial parts of Christianity.
    2. The vegetable characters being cannibals for sometimes eating tomatoes.
  3. YMMV.The BFG - Stock Parody Jokes: No, "BFG" doesn't stand for "Big Fucking Giant".
  4. Road Apples - Many parodies of the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! theme involve poop:
    1. One variation is "Scooby-dooby-Doo, took a poo, Shaggy thought it was chocolate. Shaggy took a bite and turned all white. That's the end of Shaggy." Another version has Shaggy survive, but another version has the whole gang accidentally eat the poop and die.
    2. There's one parody that goes, "Scooby-dooby-Doo took a poo in Shaggy's slipper."
  5. YMMV.Reboot - Stock Parody Jokes:
    1. The characters ending up in a very glitchy game.
    2. Mocking the show's dated CGI.
  6. YMMV.Little Red Riding Hood - Stock Parody Jokes: Hotter and Sexier versions of the fairy-tale. The wolf is a metaphor for a sultry lover, or "Little" Red actively pursues him.
  7. YMMV.Toy Story 4 - Stock Parody Jokes: Andy being furious with Bonnie when he finds out she lost Woody, his most precious toy.
  8. YMMV.Goof Troop - Stock Parody Jokes: Joke predictions as to how Goofy wound up a single father with a son are popular among fans, usually taking the form of wondering how someone like Goofy would find a woman who'd be willing to bear his child or, for those a little more imaginative, claiming that he either gave birth to Max himself or somehow reproduced asexually.
  9. YMMV.Super Mario Bros - Stock Parody Jokes:
    1. Mario is on drugs. Optionally, the games are all a drug-fueled hallucination.
    2. Mario (and to a lesser extent, Luigi) is often depicted as fatter, more hairy, and older than he is in canon. Princess Peach is an oversexualized Dumb Blonde to contrast with this.
    3. Princess Peach is in a Secret Relationship with Bowser. Her being "kidnapped" is a ruse so that they can spend time together.
    4. Mario is a Sociopathic Hero who goes around mercilessly stomping on enemies.
    5. Mario hits his head on blocks and gets injured. This is actually Common Knowledge because Mario hits blocks with his fist, not his head.
    6. Dr. Mario parodies where Mario is a shady back-alley doctor. The Dr Mario games imply that Mario is closer to a research chemist. Shallow parodies have him prescribing pills to patients, but all we see in the actual games are him performing experiments on the effects of vitamins on virus cultures.
    7. Mario being portrayed as feeling frustrated about the Princess "being in another castle." In none of the Mario games is Toad's presence the bait-and-switch it's presented as; Mario travels to the correct destination but there's a ton of terrain and, yes, castles in his path that have to be overcome. Yet this is the stock joke.
    8. Mario abuses Yoshi, whether it be by punching him in the head to make him eatnote  or by dropping him in a pit once he's outlived his usefulness.
    9. While Luigi is occasionally a Butt-Monkey in some games, parodies tend to amp this up to eleven where he's completely hopeless and depressed while constantly living under Mario's shadow and being overlooked. There's also a common joke that Luigi secretly hates Mario and wants to usurp his fame. Either that or Luigi's genuinely the sweet brother he is in canon, but Mario's a Big Brother Bully that takes advantage of him.
    10. Peach using her kidnappings as a Honey Trap to get complete strangers to fight wars with the Koopa Kingdom for her.
  10. YMMV.A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving - Woodstock being a cannibal because he ate a turkey dinner with Snoopy. It should be noted that just because turkeys are birds like Woodstock doesn't make him a cannibal. In fact, his type is apparently no more closely related to turkeys than humans are to cows.
  11. Born in the Saddle: Expect a lot of jokes about just how much they love their horses.
  12. SelfFanservice.Video Games: This is also frequently inverted; a common Stock Parody Joke is to portray Mario as a fat, short, hairy middle-aged man instead of the youthful, able-bodied 20-something he canonically is.
  13. YMMV.Neopets - Stock Parody Jokes: Joking about how your Neopets have probably starved to death because you haven't logged onto the site in years.
  14. YMMV.Dr Mario - Stock Parody Jokes: Parodies where Mario is a shady Back-Alley Doctor. The Dr. Mario games imply that Mario is closer to a research chemist. Shallow Parodies have him prescribing pills to patients, but all we see in the actual games are him performing experiments on the effects of vitamins on virus cultures.
  15. YMMV.Puyo Puyo - Stock Parody Jokes: Calling the series Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, due to the game being a Dolled-Up Installment of the original Puyo Puyo. This is VideoGame/KirbysAvalanche erasure.]
  16. YMMV.Ready Jet Go - Stock Parody Jokes: Carrot and Celery like to kidnap children and take them on space missions without the knowledge of their parents.
  17. YMMV.Hearts Of Iron - Stock Parody Jokes: Argentina Is Nazi-Land-themed jokes abound, thanks to the "SeƱor Hilter" events chain (Hitler in a Paper-Thin Disguise as a fascist leader in Argentina after a Nazi defeat in a German civil war).
  18. YMMV.The Magic School Bus - Stock Parody Jokes: Ms. Frizzle being a Time Lord and the bus being her TARDIS.
  19. YMMV.The Brady Bunch - Stock Parody Jokes: Marcia and Greg being Flirty Stepsiblings is one of the most common.
  20. YMMV.Encanto - Stock Parody Jokes:
    1. Comparing Mirabel to Izuku Midoriya because they both have the initial premise where each character doesn't have superpowers in a family/world where everyone else does even though Midoriya gains "One For All" early in the series and Mirabel never receives any powers.
    2. Dolores being constantly forced to hear... certain things is essentially the bread and butter of the fandom's humor.
    3. In a meta example, many fans have joked about the creators having to forcibly stop Lin-Manuel Miranda from having a voiceover role in the movie (probably Bruno), due to him famously being a Descended Creator in his own theatrical productions.
  21. Mainstream Obscurity: Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon is one of the most well-known rock albums ever made, and a common candidate for Pink Floyd's best album, with its cover in particular being one of the most widely-parodied out there and practically a cultural shorthand for "classic rock fan and/or stoner."
  22. YMMV.Trapped In The Closet - Stock Parody Jokes: If the album comes up in any other media, expect there to be a gay joke about its title.
  23. YMMV.Winnie The Pooh - Stock Parody Jokes:
    1. Pooh and friends' character quirks represent either a spectrum of mental illnesses, or the effects of different drugs.
    2. Also, the many Toilet Humour cracks regarding Pooh Bear's name.
    3. Tigger's name, too.
  24. YMMV.Minions - Stock Parody Jokes: The Minions work for the evilest master they can find, so they served any dictator throughout human history and were involved in any atrocity (usually Hitler and the Holocaust).
  25. YMMV.The Baby Sitters Club - Stock Parody Jokes:
    1. The tomboyish Kristy is lesbian.
    2. The Babysitters Club is a cult.
  26. YMMV.The Jetsons - Stock Parody Jokes: The Jetsons focuses on a portion of humanity that managed to avoid the Apocalypse, and it and The Flintstones are set in the exact same time-period.
  27. YMMV.He Man And The Masters Of The Universe 1983 - Stock Parody Jokes: He-Man being depicted as a Camp Gay man tends to be a recurring element of many online parodies.
  28. YMMV.Hey Arnold - Stock Parody Jokes:
    1. Arnold's grandparents are actually his parents because of his football-shaped head.
    2. Grandpa Phil's head looks like a penis.
    3. Helga is an extreme Tsundere.
    4. Arnold is Kid Jesus and redeems everyone, even the evilest people.
  29. YMMV.Toy Story - Stock Parody Jokes:
    1. The toys accidentally see a teenage/adult Andy doing something sexual.
    2. Andy's mom also having toys named Woody and Buzz.
  30. YMMV.Thomas And Friends - Stock Parody Jokes:
    1. The engines are slaves or authoritarians who are happy to be slaves.
    2. Sir Topham Hatt (The Fat Controller) is a Fat Bastard Corrupt Corporate Executive who is excessively bossy or even outright abusive to his engines.
    3. Jokes about the anthropomorphism of railroad equipment are often made, usually asking if the engines can do certain human functions like eating, using the bathroom, or mating.
  31. YMMV.Mr Men - Stock Parody Jokes: Fake covers focusing of original characters whose Meaningful Name is an insult or more adult-themed than the normal series.
  32. YMMV.Superman - Stock Parody Jokes:
    1. Superman is every bit the smug Superdick that Lex Luthor thought he was.
    2. His disguise never fooled anybody, and Clark's really bad at hiding his powers. Either that, or his Superman personality keeps bleeding into his work at the Daily Planet.
    3. Lois Lane deliberately getting into danger just so that Superman will have to come and save her.
    4. Jimmy Olsen only exists for weird things to happen to him.
    5. Supergirl's weird dating habits include horses and even her own cousin.
    6. Lex Luthor getting into feuds with real-world business magnates. Either that, or comparing his resemblance (and other similarities) to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
    7. Brainiac being a stereotypical nerd or geek.

     Joke not specified (2/50) 
  1. FandomSpecificPlot.Miraculous Ladybug: Whether it's a Role Swap AU, a "series with an Original Character added" fic, or just a series rewrite, there's a number of fics out there that like to add extra details to pre-existing episodes, either by expanding on their plots with fanon ideas or adding what are quickly becoming Stock Parody Jokes.
  2. Funny.The Runaway Guys Main Lets Plays: When Emile is ready to make another Stock Parody Joke of Paper Mario, Jon immediately steers the conversation towards how long it took Emile to finish Click Clock Wood the first time around because he's sick of hearing the joke.

     Related To (6/50) 

Edited by GastonRabbit on Apr 22nd 2023 at 10:44:04 AM

mightymewtron Lots of coffee from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Lots of coffee
#26: Apr 20th 2023 at 11:52:03 PM

I don't think the name is the problem, and I can't really think of a better one. Perhaps starting the new draft with some healthy, well-contextualized crosswicked examples and a clear rule about naming parodies could fix it.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#27: Apr 21st 2023 at 12:46:33 AM

[up]Yeah, I think the name would work for a trope that actually focuses on stock parody jokes, instead of the mess we have now.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
GastonRabbit MOD Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#28: Apr 22nd 2023 at 8:31:02 AM

Calling in favor of disambiguating.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#29: Apr 22nd 2023 at 8:45:16 AM

OK, the page is disambiguated.

Here are the wicks. Not too many to go through.

Edit: Dewicked the Stock Parody Joke redirect and cut it. Not sure why it existed when we don't do plural/singular redirects these days and this was launched within the past few years.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Apr 22nd 2023 at 10:48:48 AM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
MadAboutLove97 Since: Jul, 2019 Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
#30: Apr 23rd 2023 at 3:45:20 PM

Cleaned up all the wicks except for Ambiguity Index, Wick Cleaning Projects, and two Sandboxes.

MacronNotes (she/her) (Captain) Relationship Status: Less than three
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Trope Repair Shop: Stock Parody Jokes
19th Apr '23 9:06:15 AM

Crown Description:

Stock Parody Jokes is a trope that is ostensibly about jokes commonly featured in parodies of specific works. However, the vast majority of entries (40/50) are just the joke(s) and say little to nothing about the parodies actually using those jokes. Since so few actually involve the parody aspect, they feel more like Memes or Shout Outs than something more unique. What should be done with Stock Parody Jokes?

Total posts: 31
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