Parody Names

aka: Parody Name

Hmm, wonder who that's supposed to be.

Who knows how the idea got started that, when making The Parody, it is innately funny to replace each character's original name with a silly one that rhymes or sounds similar. But get started it did.

This does make sense from a certain vantage point. After all, if — for copyright and/or trademark reasons — a publisher can't use the characters' real names, they might as well replace them with something funny. However, some writers make the mistake of thinking that doing this makes their parody automatically funny. It doesn't. It may also be done to make it absolutely clear just what is being parodied since Viewers Are Morons. At its very worst, this is done when the writers don't know what they're parodying and thus making fun of the characters' names is the only joke they can think of.

Can be combined with Parallel Porn Titles.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Doctor Slump has some Captain Ersatz characters with names like this, including Suppaman (a portmanteau of "Superman" and suppa, which is Japanese for "sour") and Parzan ("Tarzan" and paa, which literally means "flat" but can also mean "stupid").
• Gintama uses this whenever it refers to the titles of other Jump manga or their characters. It even does it to itself with the in-universe parody manga known as Gintaman. The characters themselves have a different flavor; their names are either kanji swaps or similar-enough sounding equivalents to their actual historical counterparts' names.
• In Lupin III: Dead or Alive, Lupin sends a video Calling Card. The opening of his card uses his name as a parody of the 20th Century Fox Vanity Plate.
• In March Comes in Like a Lion, Momo mistakes Nikaidou for a children's cartoon character called "Bodoro." When they show you what it looks like, it looks about one would expect if they found the name familiar.

Asian Animation

• Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf: Joys of Seasons episode 42 features a hippo pirate with the same clothing as a certain manga character named Luffy. His name in the English dub? Mr. Ruffy.
• One episode of Simple Samosa features a parody of John Wick, of all things. Here, the character is renamed "Corn Wick" to fit with the show's Anthropomorphic Food setting, and another episode featured one "Toast Malone".

Comic Books

• Very much abused in Monica's Gang, with Pokecão instead of Pokemon, Darti Vesgo instead of Darth Vader, Superhomão instead of Superman, Ton Cruzes instead of Tom Cruise... Of course, the jokes involved make more sense in Portuguese.
• In DC Comics Inferior Five, the Five's parents are a parody Justice League, While we don't get their full names, the surnames of some of their kids suggest they're suitably parodic. Mr Might (Superman) has the Earth surname Brent, and the original name Barb-Ell, son of Dumb-Ell of the planet Neon. Power Princess (Wonder Woman) married a man named Tremor (for Steve Trevor), and Bowman (Green Arrow) has the surname King (instead of Queen). The exceptions are The Flash parody Captain Swift, who is called Cramer, not a play on Allen or Garrick, and the Uncle Sam parody Patriot, who has the surname Victor.
• Just about every single MAD movie parody. Ever. The Simpsons had a field day with this one when MAD parodies Bart's boy band (in "New Kids on the Blecch"):
  Nelson: "They called me "Smellson!"
  Homer: "It's funny, 'cause you smell."
  • Also in that episode, we see the MAD Magazine executives having a hard time coming up with a parody name for Everybody Loves Raymond. (In reality, they already published "Everybody Loathes Raymond" by the time this aired.)
  • Lampshaded in some of MAD's Self-Deprecation when they note that they fiddle with character names so much that sometimes you can't even tell who the original character was.
  • The use of Parody Names in MAD apparently dates back to a story in issue #3 featuring the Lone Stranger, his sidekick Pronto, and his horse Golden. After "Superduperman" in the next issue provoked a lawsuit from DC Comics, their parody of Batman reiterated that it was not to be mistaken for the genuine article: "Bat Boy mit a Boy! Rubin mit a U!"
  • Strangely averted in MAD's Seinfeld parody.
  • However to MAD's credit, their names (at least in the classic black and white years) generally are more meaningful and clever than names in TV and movie parodies from their rivals Cracked and Crazy among others. (For example: MAD's "Cloddumbo" vs. Cracked's "Columoron".) Their parody name for Dr. Ian Malcolm in their Jurassic Park parodies, "I Am Malcontent", is an example that doubles as an accurate description of the character.
  • Carl Weathers, who played Apollo Creed in the Rocky series, once said that of all the nicknames the character had, his personal favorite was MAD's take on the character: "Appalling Greed".
• Marvel's What The—?! of course has them in spades, and interestingly they tried to never recycle them from issue to issue, demanding a lot of creativity.
• Several strips in Buster used to do this, ranging from Judge Dudd to Captain Pilchard.
• The first two members of the Seven Sentinels introduced in Top 10 had last names of this stripe. The Black Boomerang is the Green Arrow stand-in, and his real name is Gilbert Marchioness (a marchioness being the female equivalent of a marquis; compare Queen), while the Green Lantern-like Scarlet Scepter is Henry Nile (which is a famous river like the Jordan).
• Johnny Turbo, being a "spokesman" for NEC and the TurboGrafx-16, led his personal crusade for the console's superiority not against real-world rival Sega, but against their robot-run counterpart Feka. It's probably pronounced similarly, too, as in "Fake-uh".
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, being a humorous take on Daredevil, do this to his mentor (Stick -> Splinter, a mouse) and a villainous group (The Hand -> Foot Clan).

Fan Works

• The Bolt Chronicles: Real brand names are almost never utilized in this series.
  • Used for the stores in “The Mall”: Office Despot, Spender’s Gifts, Moronica’s Secret, Gloomingdales, etc. as well as the social media website Farcebook.
  • Used for the social media websites in “The Car”: Bumblr, Dreddit, Twiddler.
  • Used for the franchises referenced in “The Coffee Shop”: Queequeg’s, Dippy Donuts, and Joe Orton’s.
  • Used for the franchise referenced in “The Protection Payment”: Krusty Kreme.
• Reimagined Enterprise: An exaggerated version of the canon show's Jonathan Archer^note the fic uses a version with different characterization called Abner Bowman appears as the captain of the USS Dauntless. Abner being a relative and colleague of Jonathan in The Bible and bowman being another word for archer.
• Combined with Parallel Porn Titles in Hardcore Entertainment presents: Seven Does Voyager. The crew of the Suxfleet ship Voyorgy includes Sexy of Nine, Captain Analway, Commander Cumtoday, Tom Penis, Ballbuster Torres, Ensign Kum, Bootlix, the Vulcans Toufock and Vorprick, and the Dicktor.
• Sunky.MPEG practically runs on this trope. The titular Sunky the Game, Tlels the Fix, Knickknacks the Enchilada, Silly, Eemie, Cweam, Mitty... The list goes on.

Film

• In Mel Brooks' Spaceballs (which parodies, among other sci-fi franchises, Star Wars), Yoda becomes "Yoghurt", the Force becomes "The Schwartz", Jabba the Hutt becomes Pizza the Hutt and Darth Vader becomes "Dark Helmet."
• The Austin Powers series is packed with these.
  • "Alotta Fagina" is derived from Pussy Galore in the James Bond movie Goldfinger. This one is actually making fun of something about the original name, not just going for similar-but-silly.
  • "Goldmember" appears in the third Austin Powers movie (and its title).
  • "Random Task", who's a parody of Oddjob.
  • Austin's sidekick in Austinpussy, Dixie Normous.
• The Finnish Star Trek spoof film series Star Wreck gives parody names to all its characters, including James B. Pirk (James T. Kirk), Fukov (Chekov), Spökö/Spook (Spock), Plingons (Klingons), Vulgars (Vulcans), Shitty (Scotty), Dwarf (Worf) and Info (Data). The feature-length film introduces Babylon 5 parodies such as Sherrypie (Sheridan) and the genuinely hilarious Karigrandi (Garibaldi - Garybrandy in the English version).
• A number of pornographic parodies of big-name movies have done this, to both the title and the character names borrowed from the original source.
  • Muffy the Vampire Layer, anyone?
  • Or 1974's Flesh Gordon?
• Boys In the Sand is generally credited as the first poen parody name although it does not parody the source, The Boys in the Band.
• An American Carol has "Rosie O'Connell," "Michael Malone" (Michael Moore), and a composite character called "George Mulrooney." Do they have something against the Irish or something?
  • Probably just incidental, since Mulrooney sounds like it's filling in for Clooney.
• The 1978 Star Wars parody Hardware Wars has names such as Fluke Starbucker, Augie 'Ben' Doggie, Ham Salad, Darph Nader and Artie Deco.
• Star Wars also got this from Thumb Wars, including such characters as Loke Groundrunner, Beboobeep (R2-D2), and Oobedoob Benubi (Obi Wan).
• Done throughout the Scary Movie series. The main character's name, Cindy Campbell, is relatively subtle, playing on Scream's Sidney Prescott (played by Neve Campbell).
• Seltzer and Friedberg have a habit of taking this trope and running it into the ground.
• This is Spın̈al Tap: Nigel Tufnel is actually a very subtle one of these, being formed on the same template as Eric Clapton: "boring first name and place in London."
• Occasionally used in the Carry On series; for instance in the Foreign Legion spoof Follow That Camel, the equivalent of Cigarette in Under Two Flags is called Corktip, as well as the lead named Bo West from Beau Geste, and in Don't Lose Your Head, the counterpart of The Scarlet Pimpernel is The Black Fingernail.
• The Silence of the Hams: Billy Zane's FBI Agent is named Jo Dee Fostar.
• Fatal Instinct: The main character of this erotic thriller spoof, a lawyer/cop named Ned Ravine, is a take-off on William Hurt's character from Body Heat, a lawyer named Ned Racine.
• One of many "supernatural Threatening Shark" movies that followed Sharknado was Sharks of the Corn, which to show a possible inspiration is billed in the cover as "Steven Kang's Sharks of the Corn".
• Cecil B. Demented, named after Cecil B. DeMille.

Literature

• Michael Gerber's Barry Trotter (a parody of Harry Potter) features such winners as "Muddle" for Muggle, "Philosopher's Scone" for Philosopher's Stone, "Hogwash" for Hogwarts, "Lord Valumart" for Lord Voldemort, "Earth Eaters" for Death Eaters and "Measlys" for Weasleys.
• In Bored of the Rings, The Harvard Lampoon's parody of The Lord of the Rings, pretty much every location and character gets a parody name. Wizards Gandalf and Saruman become "Goodgulf" and "Serutan." The parody tale starts in "The Stye" (The Shire), home to the "boggies" (hobbits), four of which are named "Frito" (Frodo), "Spam" (Sam), "Moxie" (Merry) and "Pepsi" (Pippin). Minas Tirith becomes "Minas Troney," and the equivalent of Mordor is the post-industrial wasteland of "Fordor," ruled by "Sorhed" (Sauron). Bilbo Baggins becomes "Dildo Bugger", Aragorn, son of Arathorn becomes "Arrowroot, son of Arrowshirt", Legolas and Gimli become "Legolam" and "Gimlet", and so forth.
• Doctor Whom, by Adam Roberts, was a parody of both Doctor Who and the punctuation manual Eats, Shoots and Leaves. Parody names included "Prose Tailor" (Rose Tyler), "The TARDY" (The TARDIS), "Garleks" (Daleks), "Cydermen" (Cybermen), "Stavros" (Davros), "Master Debater" (The Master) and "Time Gentlemen" (Time Lords).
  • Adam Roberts has done several other parody books under variations of his name.The Soddit and The Sellamillion as A.R.R.R. Roberts, The Va Dinci Cod as Don Brine, Star Bores as A3R Roberts, The McAtrix Derided as the Robertski Brothers, and The Dragon With the Girl Tatto (as, surprisingly, Adam Roberts and not Adiem Robertsson or something). Naturally, all of these are filled with Parody Names.
• The Legendary Ram in Buggery, a parody of you know what, made extensive use of these. As can probably be inferred from the title.
• Star Wreck (the 1990s book series, not the Finnish film series) had James T. Smirk and Mr Smock on board the USS Endocrine plus Commander Zulu, Ensign Checkout, etc, etc. Also their new replacements on the Endocrine-D: Jean-Lucy Ricardo, Commander Piker, Counselor Dee Troit, etc, etc, etc...
  • And in the later books they were all joined by the crew of Station Geek Space Nine: Bungeeman Crisco, Constable Dodo, Major Vera, etc, etc, etc, etc...
• Discworld novels don't have much of this stuff, but Gimlet, the dwarf with famously piercing eyes who runs a deli on Cable Street, may be intended as a reference to Gimli, son of Glóin.
  • It's not as rare as you think; this is the same guy who gave us Cohen the Barbarian. Ghengiz Cohen, in fact.
  • Most Discworld parody names are Genius Bonuses; Salzella, the music director in Maskerade is a play on Antonio Salieri, whose surname means "seller of salt". Less esoteric is that "gimlet" is also the name of a cocktail.
    • The original pun deserves explanation. A brief Running Gag was for a character to describe some supernatural or otherwise creepy person as having "Eyes... Like Gimlets!". To which another character would respond "...You mean the Dwarf what runs the-" "I mean he has bloody creepy eyes that's what!". Eventually Gimlet and his delicatessen appeared in a later book.
  • Another subtle one, Fliemoe, the parody of Flashman in Pyramids, has a name that doesn't parody Flashman but his henchman Speedicut, who happens to share his name with a make of lawnmower.
• The Adventures of Samurai Cat‎ does this as a cover for all the copyrighted characters it parodies, although it's rarely so much funny as it is a simple aversion. During the Star Trek section of "Samurai Cat Goes to the Movies" (a mashup-parody anthology, in which the crew is attacked by Xenomorphs, a parody Predator, and a "Terminationer" that's been dogging the main characters for a few chapters), for example, Sulu becomes Sununu, and Chekov becomes Tolstoy. Not quite as clever as how the Terminationer was sent back from an alternate future in which the main character had never existed.
• The Hunger Pains is another book by the Harvard Lampoon, which parodies The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. You have Kantkiss Neverclean, skilled archer, Effu Poorpeople (Effie Trinket), Pita Malarkey, and so on and so forth. Some names are obviously made up for the book, while others (namely, Carol Handsomestein) aren't as obvious to figure out, to most.^note It seems that the Lampoon wanted to make fun of the fact that Gale's name sounds like a girl, so they named him Carol.
• In The Toothpaste Millionaire by Jean Merrill, when Toothpaste's competitors, Sparkle, Dazzle and Brite, are losing a price war and the presidents of their manufacturers are trying to arrange an industry meeting, the first-person protagonist writes a script for a Roman à Clef movie whose antagonists are three Corrupt Corporate Executives named Sharkle, Snazzle and Slyte. "Sharkle looks mean, Snazzle looks greedy, and Slyte looks sly," the script notes.
• Sherlock Holmes parodies and pastiches:
  • One of the earliest, from 1892, features "Sherlaw Kombs" and "Whatson."
  • P. G. Wodehouse had "Burdock Rose" and "Dr. Wotsing."
  • Various authors (including Maurice Leblanc in an Arsène Lupin story) have used the Spooneristic name "Herlock Sholmes" (or Shomes or Sholmès).
  • O. Henry had "Shamrock Jolnes" and "Whatsup."
  • One of the most overtly mocking examples (fittingly applied to one of the broadest parodies) is Robert L. Fish's "Schlock Homes."

Live-Action TV

• Some of the more obscure Muppets on Sesame Street had such names, including Sherlock Hemlock, Plácido Flamingo and Meryl Sheep (probably meant as Parental Bonus).
  • Plus Monsterpiece Theater, with Alistair Cookie!
  • Along with Pat Playjacks, Velma Blank, Ross Parrot, and Vincent Twice Vincent Twice.
• The Electric Company (1971) had Julia Grownup and J. Arthur Crank.
  • Really 80% of the jokes of the German "Funny Movie" series.
  • Since the program only had the rights to Spider-Man himself, in an episode of Spidey Super Stories, Spidey watches himself fight the Green Globlin in a movie.
• Saturday Night Live parodies MacGyver as MacGruber. (The sketch is having less and less to do with MacGyver as it goes along, however. Oringally, it made fun of MacGyvering, but later the joke turned to the title character being a slovenly Jerkass with a host of personal problems.)
  • In the Pepsi ads, MacGyver shows up, at it is later discovered that MacGyver is MacGruber's father.
• Most Extreme Elimination Challenge usually uses these for the names of the contestants when they're based on real people/characters ("Country Music Superstars vs. The World of James Bond" had "Girth Brooks", "Codger Moore", and "Timothy B. Dalton" among others). Since the show is an example of Rapid-Fire Comedy, this isn't too painful.
• Muppets Tonight had Spamela Hamderson and David Hoggselhoff, the stars of Bay Of Pigs Watch.
• An episode of Life with Derek focused on the controversy surrounding the game Babe Raider.
• Boy Meets World did a Self-Parody in one episode in the form of a Show Within a Show called Kid Gets Acquainted With the Universe, in which Cory became Rory, Shawn became Shane and Eric became Derek. Ben Savage, the actor who played Cory in real life, became "Ben Sandwich", and Rider (Strong), who played Shawn, became "Schnieder". However, the most punny name came when they mentioned that Ben Sandwich has a brother named "Bread Sandwich", a reference to Ben Savage's brother Fred Savage.
• The Revolution Will Be Televised does this with most of its characters, such as having the far right, politically incorrect journalist be named "Dale Mailey", a pretty blatant Take That! to the Daily Mail. Others include Raffe van der Koont, the sex-obsessed, Camp Gay host of "Double Fist TV".
• In The Goodies' parody of Roots (1977), all three of the gang's ancestors have names that pastiche Kunta Kinte; Bill's is Kinda Kinky, Tim's is Kounty Kutie and Graeme's is Keltic Kilty.
• Eric Idle and Neil Innes created The Beatles parody group The Rutles for BBC's Rutland Weekend Television, which made an appearance in the U.S. on Saturday Night Live and later an NBC special All You Need Is Cash.
• Disasterpiece Theatre was a 1980 precursor to Mystery Science Theater 3000 that aired on local San Diego TV. The name was also used in the Beetlejuice episode "Moby Richard".

Magazines

• A favourite gag of Punch!. For instance, Sir Robert Peel was dubbed "Sir Rhubarb Pill" and Lord Randolph Churchill (Winston Churchill's dad) was called "Grandolph" for his egotism.
• Private Eye, being a Spiritual Successor to Punch, followed suit, with examples such as Piers Morgan becoming "Piers Moron" and Carter-Ruck, a law firm that has prosecuted in many of the Eye's libel cases, is always "Carter-Fuck" (except when it is "Farter-Fuck").

Music

• Any opera by P.D.Q. Bach is likely to have several Parody Names based on characters from Mozart's operas. Donald Giovanni and Schleporello from The Abduction of Figaro and Don Octave and Il Commendatoreador from The Stoned Guest are all named after characters in Don Giovanni.
• Bobby Pickett (of "Monster Mash" fame) also recorded Star Dreck, a parody of a certain well-known TV show. Characters included Captain Jerk, Mr. Schlock, Chief Engineer Snotty, Helmsman Mr. Lulu, Lt. Manure-a, and a Negative Space Wedgie.

  Jerk: Into the elevator, Mr. Schlock, let's beam down to the planet's surface so I can find an alien to fall in love with before the program's over.

  Schlock: (Wearily) You usually do.

  Jerk: (Chuckles) Ain't I somethin'?

• Anything by Allan Sherman ("The Twelve Gifts Of Christmas," "Pop Hates The Beatles," etc.) and his latter-day disciple, "Weird Al" Yankovic.
• One of the albums The Rutles (as mentioned in the Live Action TV tab) put out was "Tragical Misery Tour" with songs like "W.C. Fields Forever," "All You Need Is Lunch" and "Your Mother Should Go."

Radio

• The BBC Radio 4 comedy series The Wordsmiths at Gorsemere applies this trope to Romantic poets. The main characters are William Wordsmith, his sister Dorothy Wordsmith, and their friend Samuel Taylor Choleric. Other characters included Percy Jelly, the rakish Lord Biro, the spooky William Bloke, Walter Spott, John Sheets, and so on. Gorsemere is a parody of Grassmere, the village the Lake Poets were based in.
• The BBC Radio 4 comedy series Gloomsbury, by the same writer, does the same thing for the Bloomsbury set. The main characters are Vera Sackcloth-Vest (Vita Sackville-West) and her it's-complicated Ginny Fox. Others include D.H. Lollipop (author of Lady Hattersley's Plover), T.S. Jellytot, James Joist and Dr Sigmund Void.
• Another Radio 4 comedy, Bleak Expectations, gives Dickens this treatment. Given how ridiculous Dickens' original names often are (Wackford Squeers, anyone?), they have to go pretty over the top to do so, so most characters' names are just two-word encapsulations of their entire personality (eg Miss Sweetly Delightful) or subversions of the same (eg the Big Bad, Mr. Gently Benevolent).

Tabletop Games

• Mutants & Masterminds, among other characters with names referencing famous superheroes and their writers, had a subtle multi-layered example in Police Commissioner Barbara Kane, a homage to police Commissioner Barbara Gordon from Batman Beyond... and a play on the name of Bob Kane, the writer who created Batman.

Theatre

• Clare Boothe's play Kiss the Boys Good-bye involves people trying to produce The Film of the Book of an American Civil War romance glorifying the South, whose heroine is a Southern Belle named "Velvet O'Toole," who might have a few things in common with Scarlett O'Hara.
• College Wars, a Star Wars parody set in an Oxford college, features names such as "Qui-Gon Gin and Tonic", "Don Juan Kenobi" and "Ali G Jar Binks". And the spaceship, the Millennium Bug.
• Dream Girl has several mentions of a trashy but Critic-Proof historical romance novel called Always Opal, which is selling out at bookstores—a transparent reference to the contemporary bestseller Forever Amber.
• In Forbidden Broadway, this is frequently applied to show titles ("Grand Hotel? Grand Hotel? No, this is the Grim Hotel"), but very rarely applied to characters ("Rafreaky" being one exception), and never to actors.

Video Games

• M Scramble, a hentai Dating Sim knockoff of Haruhi Suzumiya, is the story of Asamiya Haruka and her UFO-dan; the rest of the cast follows suit. Not only that, but the characters themselves are Palette Swaps of the Haruhi cast.[1]
• The national leaders in Nuclear War have names like Ronnie Raygun, Infidel Castro, Gorbachef, Colonel Malomar Kadaffy, or Mao The Pun.
• Racing games released under the Magnetic Fields brand (Lotus series, Super Cars series) parodied the names of real-life race drivers: Ayrton Sendup, Alain Phosphate, Crashhard Banger, T. Hairy Bootson, Nijel Mainsail, M. Carburettor, Nelson Pickets, Rissole Brooks, Mickey Louder, Stag Bloomvest, James Haunt, Sterling Mess, Derek Werek, Ricardo Pastry...
• Rock Star Ate My Hamster has a plethora of music stars whose names were knock-offs of real musicians: Wacky Jacko, Maradonna, Elvin Dwight, Rotton Johnny, Dick Knackered, Tina Turnoff and so on. (This also extended to the names of rival charting bands, such as The Rent Shop Boys, Deaf Leper and Bazoomarooma, and the names of directors, such as Busby Berserkely and Wrigley Scott.) Some make sense in context, as you can see. But this is taken to extremes with Kylie Minogue's ersatz, who was baptized as Bimbo Baggins.
• Delta 4's text adventure games Bored of the Rings (not based on the book of the same name) and The Boggit applied this to character names.
• In Mutant League Football, a number of players have names that parody those of famous football players of the mid 80s to early 90s, while at the same time conforming to the game's general Theme Naming of monsters, violence, and gross stuff. Thus, Scary Ice (Jerry Rice), Bones Jackson (Bo Jackson), and Reggie Fright (Reggie White). Mutant League Hockey follows suit, with names like Jamina Dagr (Jaromir Jagr), Buggy Skull (Bobby Hull), and Maim Zitzky (Wayne Gretzky). In MLH this extends to almost every team as a whole, minus the ones returing from MLF — to name just one example, the St. Mucus Ooze lineup is entirely made up of players whose names parody the St. Louis Blues lineup circa 1993.
• Mutant Football League, the Spiritual Successor to MLF, naturally sees this trend continue with players like O'Hell Wreckem, Jr (Odell Beckham, Jr), and Ghoulio Bones (Julio Jones), and teams like the Cracksumskull Jugulars (Jacksonville Jaguars) and Grim Bay Attackers (Green Bay Packers). The lead announcer, Grim Blitzrow, has this for his own voice actor Tim Kitzrow, better known as the voice of NBA Jam
• Discworld Noir: Mundy for Thursby; Jasper Horst for Casper Gutman; "Mount" Malachite for "Moose" Malloy; Nylonathotep the Laddering Horror for Nyarlathotep the Crawling Chaos.
• The bizarre horse-dating game My Horse Prince had the title Uma no Prince-sama in Japanese. Don't be fooled, though; this game has next to nothing to do with horse-based idols.
• Hollywhoot is a parody of Hollywood actors, characters, and tropes in general. For example, it has its own version of the Rotten Tomatoes's Tomatometer, called the Potatometer.

Web Comics

• Irregular Webcomic! had a parody of xkcd titled "xkcq".
• Sluggy Freelance featured a parody of Buffy called "Muffin the Vampire Baker". She was joined by characters such as Biles, Will-Os and Banter. Fair enough, as it seems that the character's names are all that the writer seemed to know about the show.
  • That story was practically a parody of parodies in general... hopefully intentionally.
  • The same comic has also done parodies of "Torg Potter and the Sorcerer's Nuts", "Torg Potter and the Chamberpot of Secretions", "Torg Potter and the President from Arkansas", "Torg Potter and the Giblets with Fiber"...
  • There are so many parody names used in general that inevitably some end up being good and some others bad. A third class in this case is those that you just don't get.
• The Author has a running storyline parody of The Batman, aptly named "The Fatman". So far the Fat Knight has run across parodies of Batman antagonists like The Kidder, The Fiddler and Carmine Sockoni.
• The loser super hero, Samarium Skier, from Stubble Trouble.
• The Order of the Stick provides another Harry Potter parody with Larry Gardner studying at Warthog's academy.
  • And The Lord of the Rings: Frudu and Samwose on a quest to destroy the Ming (vase).
• The Star Wars fan comic Diary of a Crazed Mimbanite, among other Parody Names, replaces "Skywalker" with "Nerfherder."
• In the early 2000s, an Italian Star Trek parody web comic had characters such as Long-Luc Dickhard, Master Beta, Doyouwanna Try, Whoref, Geordi TheLarge and Chestly Crusher.
• The short comic that led to The Adventures of Dr. McNinja and is now listed as its "chapter zero" was about how the titular Dr. McNinja got revenge on Ronald McDonald for creating and marketing a "McNinja burger," which was designed to cause flatulence. ("Silent but deadly, like a ninja.") Later, when writer Chris Hastings wanted to reintroduce the McNinja burger into the story, he retconned the name to Donald McBonald, citing the fact that it would be much more straightforward to get the comic published without having to deal with legal issues over the name and logo. But since the comic is ruled by Rule of Cool and Rule of Funny, the humor value of the parody name can't be overlooked.
• My Roommate Is an Elf has a recurring character named Fruita, who is a parody of Vegeta.
• In El Goonish Shive, one strip parodies Man v. Food with a host named Andy Debtman instead of Adam Richman.

Web Original

• In DAOA, instead of “Doormat”, we have “Dootmat”.
• In the Friendship is Witchcraft episode "Read It and Sleep", this happens In-Universe: Twilight has written a Ship Fic starring thinly-disguised versions of her friends named "Applesack" and "Charity."
• Taking a cue from MAD, The Editing Room always has one of those for the movie discussed (but usually not the characters, who go by the actor names). One is even a line on the movie (Argo Fuck Yourself).
• "Titragic", a parody of Titanic (1997), does this with everything, from the characters to the ships to the diamond.
• My Little Pony in a Nutshell renames most of the characters from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Twilight Sparkle is Twinkle Sprinkle, Applejack is Aple jack (pronounced with a long A), Pinkie Pie is Pinkie Pink, Fluttershy is Flitterfloosh, Rainbow Dash is Rainbow Dish, Rarity is Rariry, Starlight Glimmer is Stoplight, Princess Celestia is Princess Celerystick, Zecora is Zechariah, Cozy Glow is Crazy Glue, Queen Chrysalis is Queen Christmas, the Flim-Flam brothers are Flip and Flop, and Star Swirl is Star Squirrel. Tirek's name is mangled in several ways much to his annoyance.

Western Animation

• The Filmation cartoon M-U-S-H from Uncle Croc's Block had pretty much no connection whatsoever to M*A*S*H, the series it was supposed to be parodying, other than the names of its characters.
• Johnny Test had one episode that featured Tinymon creatures, featuring such winners as "Blast Ketchup" for Ash Ketchum. There's also a Tinymon that parallels the Magikarp/Gyarados power jump.
  • The former is especially humorous if you are aware of Pikachu's love for ketchup.
• The otherwise unmemorable 1970s cartoon series The Secret Lives of Waldo Kitty featured in one episode a villain named "Ping of Pongo". The series title itself is a parody of James Thurber's "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty".
• The "Goodfeathers" segments of Animaniacs parody Robert De Niro's, Ray Liotta's, and Joe Pesci's characters from GoodFellas as "Bobby", "Squit", and "Pesto."
  • Animaniacs did this a lot, and Spin-Off Pinky and the Brain did this just as often, if not more. For example, the biggest band in the world was The Feebles... until Yoyo Nono came along. Another example is "BAAB", who sung Schmëerskåhøvên.
• The Simpsons:
  • Episode "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious" features Shary Bobbins, an obvious clone of Mary Poppins. She claims she is not Mary, but an original creation, like Ricky Rouse or Monald Muck.
  • Episode "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind" is a pun on the movie title Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
  • In one episode, this is lampshaded when the Simpsons visit "SPRAWL * MART", with the slogan "not a parody of Wal-Mart".
  • Also in the episode where the family goes to Ireland ("In the Name of the Grandfather"), when Lisa mentions how the country became home to many of the world's biggest technology companies, they pass by the offices of "Mick-rosoft", "Hewlett-Fitzpackard" and "Cisc O'Systems".
• The Fairly Oddparents: way too many to count, starting with Britney Britney.
  • However, Titanic (1997) was mentioned by name in the first episode.
• The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy:
  • A recurring character of the series is Nigel Planter.
  • The episode "It's Hokeymon" is a parody of Pokémon.
  • In the episode "Reap Walking", Billy's mom turns on the TV, in which "Fister's Home for Crazy Weirdo Made-Up People" is on. Only a few seconds into that show's episode (or theme song), the house explodes.
  • The episode "The Schlubs" is a parody of The Smurfs, and it even has a parody of My Little Pony entitled "My Troubled Pony", which is a soap opera starring ponies.
  • The two-parter "Brown Evil" has Mandy playing "President Evil" on the "Lamecube".
• Kaeloo: One of Kaeloo's favorite book series is "Happy Rotter", a story in which a young wizard named Happy Rotter (Harry Potter) and his friends "Red" (Ron) and "Morpione"^note The name "Morpione" is a pun on "morpion", means "crab louse" in French, the show's original language (Hermione) who go to a wizard school and face off against the evil dark wizard "Voldemob" (Voldemort), who murdered Happy's parents when he was a baby.
• The Bob Clampett directed Looney Tunes short "A Tale of Two Kitties" featured the feline comedy duo of "Babitt" and "Catstello", a clear and unmistakable parody of the decidedly more human comedy duo Abbott and Costello.
• And an episode of the Bob Clampett cartoo-oon Beany and Cecil featured the singing Dinah Saur (who was, of course, a dinosaur as well as a parody of Dinah Shore). As a Parental Bonus, she lived on No Bikini Atoll.
• The children's series Arthur parodies a lot of kids' TV and toy crazes, almost every time one pops up. Some examples are "Dukemon" (possibly "Pukemon" because Pikachu was renamed Stinkachu), "Polly Locket" (a doll with a storage compartment in her face), "Henry Screever," and "Vegimorphs;" not to mention, TV series like "The Dark Bunny" and "Spooky-Poo."
• Stroker and Hoop:
  C.A.R.R.: "On Dashiell, on Danzig, on Randolph, on Blitzkrieg, on other non-copyrighted names!"
  • CARR itself is probably a parody of KITT, which twice featured an Evil Twin of the Trans-Am named K.A.R.R.. This doubles as Viewers Are Geniuses since CARR is a sociopath.
• Darkwing Duck: One minor villain's name, Taurus Bullba, was a Shout-Out to the novel and film Taras Bulba.
  • The name of another villain, Tuskernini, is a parody of conductor Arturo Toscanini.
• Jay Ward was sued by (now pretty much all-but-forgotten) comedian Durwood Kurby when Rocky and Bullwinkle started a story arc involving the mystical hat the Kurwood Derby.
  Ward (responding to the suit): Sue us. Please. We need the publicity!
• "Don't Touch That Dial," from Mighty Mouse The New Adventures, featured "The Jetstones," "Ringading, Where Are You," "The Adventures of Rocky and Hoodwinkle" and "The Real Gagbusters", among others.
• Special Agent Oso from Playhouse Disney (now, "Disney Junior") uses a James Bond parody for the name of every...single...episode (for example, "Gold Ringer").
• The Beets in Doug. Also, a big chunk of the ''Quailman "franchise". And if you look closely, you may discover the Worst Eastern hotel.
• Teamo Supremo had a few. Possibly the most prominent was teen singing sensation Tiffany Javelins.
• Earlier episodes of South Park did this, like HBC, Cartoon Central, and Okama Gamesphere.
• Spongebob Squarepants gave us Dr. Kelp, a parody of the Dr. Pepper drink.
• A Goofy Movie has Carl's Butt (Carlsbad) Caverns, which Max and Goofy visit on their road trip after Max secretly changes the route.
• Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers has these aplenty.
  • Jolly Roger (on the skull & bones flag)
  • Billy the Squid (on Billy the Kid)
  • Stan Blather (on the news anchorman Dan Rather)
  • Joy Rider (on the astronaut Sally Ride)
  • Sureluck Jones (on Sherlock Holmes)
  • Lord Howard, Lord Howie and Roger Baskerville (all on The Hound of the Baskervilles)
  • Iron Goose (probably on Iron Maiden)
  • Irweena Allen (on Irwin Allen a.k.a. "Master of Disaster", maker of The Swarm)
  • Mr. Dumpty (on Humpty Dumpty)
  • Cruiser & Bruiser (on Tom Cruise of Top Gun fame)
  • Detective Donald Drake (on Donald Duck) and his dog Plato (on Pluto)
  • Juice Lee (on Bruce Lee)
  • Sewernose de Bergerac (on Cyrano de Bergerac)
  • Wexler (on the layout artist Ed Wexler)
  • Nemo (on Captain Nemo of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea whose submarine appears in this episode in its Disney appearance)
  • Rat Capone (on Al Capone)
  • Sugar Ray Lizard (on the boxer Sugar Ray Leonard)
  • Arnold Mausenegger (on Arnold Schwarzenegger)
  • Ma Sweeney and her son Todd (on Sweeney Todd)
  • Maltese de Sade (on Marquis de Sade)
  • Mouseo (Fan Nickname of an otherwise nameless mouse who looks like Harpo Marx dressed as the Mad Hatter)
  • Kookoo (on Koko, the gorilla who was trained to communicate with humans)
  • The Red Badger of Courage (on The Red Badge of Courage)
  • Genghis Khat (on Genghis Khan)
  • Zsa Zsa Labrador (on Zsa Zsa Gabor)
  • Wild Bill Hiccup (on Wild Bill Hickock)
• Moby-Dick went through numerous parody names, including Dopey Dick (Woody Woodpecker), Dickie Moe (Tom & Jerry), Moby Hick (Popeye) and Moby Richard (Beetlejuice).

Real Life

• A cafe inside a library named 'Starbooks'.

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