Original subtitles

Is there a difference between parody and satire?

I mean, obviously parody is ‐‐ man!

I dont know.

Well...

You know, Jerry, my brother,

and Jim Abrahams always have an answer for that.

I I think of...

I dont know.

Go look it up in the dictionary.

Im sure they have wonderful,

better descriptions of what the word is.

Man: Parody is essentially a take‐off.

Parody is like what "Weird" Al Yankovic goes.

I think were done here.

[ Laughter ]

Oh, hold on one second. Satire is hard.

Man: Satire is a more serious

an intensive form of comic derision.

Satire is humor with a moral purpose.

Making fun of things so that they might get better.

You are trying to make a social point.

To me, good satire is...

The greatest weapon against assholes.

And, you know, the world is full of assholes.

This is Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise.

Identify yourself.

Smith: "SNL" does parody all the time.

Name a cartoon, they trade in it.

"Lord of the Rings."

Smith: Name a late‐night talk show,

they trade in it. Why?

Because its common reference.

Like, we all know the thing theyre parodying.

Parody is very much taking something that we recognize,

a song that everybody knows, a movie that everybody knows.

Its a very grand tradition of taking known forms

and skewing them just enough to make a comment about them.

OBrien: In "Your Show of Shows" in the 1950s,

they were parodying things that people knew,

like the famous kissing scene in "From Here to Eternity."

Everybody in America had seen that movie.

It was something that everybody could relate to.

And then everyone feels like,

"Yes, were all in this together."

[ Laughter ]

Burnett: When we did a takeoff on "Gone With the Wind,"

the younger audience didnt know the original movie.

For those who did know the movie,

it was a double whammy.

That gown is gorgeous!

Thank you, I saw it in the window,

and I just couldnt resist it.

Parody tends to make me laugh harder,

but satire tends to make me go, "Ooh, thats good."

Thats 11 votes for Amy Schumer

not hot enough for television.

Is anybody voting the other way?

Reiner: Amy Schumer did a piece about "12 Angry Men."

Thats a great gem piece of satire.

You look at people who just get it.

They get what it is,

and they dont try to make it too big,

they dont try to go too broad with it.

They just stay a little close to the bone

and just twist it a little bit.

Its an undisputed fact that a womans value

is mostly determined by her looks.

As it should be.

The verdict is in.

The jury agreed that they would bang you.

Yes!

Youre hot enough for basic cable television.

Thank you, Your Honor! Thank you so much!

You earn the right to be transgressive by being funny ‐‐

really funny, and then making sure

that youre not making fun of the victims.

Satire is comedy aimed at the powerful.

Man #1: Is that who I think it is?

Man #2: Uh, yes, thats Adolf Hitler in a home movie.

Man #1: Looks a little like Mel Brooks.

In terms of parody and satire, there really is Mel Brooks,

and theres everybody else.

When I was a kid, VHS tapes were invented,

so we had "The Godfather,"

and then we had every Mel Brooks movie,

and he was just the funniest.

Id like to go back to your television days,

cause, I mean, you were in television for something

like 20 years, writing for Sid Caesar.

It was very good for me to be part of the writing staff

of "The Show of Shows," "The Sid Caesar Show."

You talk about as though it was a training ground

for your film work.

I mean, is that how you see it?

Comedy university, it really was.

Nesteroff: Mel Brooks was one of the highest paid comedy writers

in the history of show business

when he worked for "Your Show of Shows."

So by the time of "The Producers,"

he was one of the most critically acclaimed

people in comedy.

Joseph? You are smoking in the presence of the Fuhrer.

Im sorry, big daddy.

"The Producers" was not the first attempt to parody Hitler.

Ernst Lubitsch had done it.

Heil myself.

The Three Stooges did it in a couple of film shorts.

But it really was the embodiment

of a lot of what Mel Brooks was about.

He does have this Hitler obsession.

Brooks: Theres only one way to get even.

You have to bring him down with ridicule,

and its been one of my life‐long jobs

has been to make the world laugh at Adolf Hitler.

♪ Hes absolutely going ♪

Man: You never had any aspirations to be serious.

Bullshit.

All my films are serious.

You examine any one of them, theyre serious,

because they are passionate,

and they depict human behavior

at given points in the history of humanity.

Oswalt: Mel Brooks grew up loving westerns.

And as he got older, still loved them from his childhood,

but you look back on some of them and go,

"Wow, thats really racist.

Some of this stuff is really messed up."

And thats where "Blazing Saddles" comes from.

Apatow: "Blazing Saddles" was very satirical,

but it did it by... ‐[ Belches ]

...making you shit your pants laughing.

[ Flatulates ]

What he manages to do with the high and the low,

I think, is astonishing.

You can have one scene where a horse

is knocked out with a punch,

and then deal with race relations

about an African‐American sheriff.

Thats pretty heady stuff.

As chairman of the welcoming committee,

it is my privilege to extent a laurel

and hearty handshake to our new...

...nigger.

Apatow: Mel Brooks tells a story

about saying to the head of the studio, "Can I do this?"

And the head of the studio is saying,

"Well, if youre gonna walk up to the bell,

you got to ring it."

And Mel Brooks rings it.

You cant make a successful comedy

that doesnt say something about the system,

about the social structure, about prejudice,

about people, about behavior.

"Blazing Saddles" is all about racial prejudice.

Its all about the hypocritical west

shitting all over a black sheriff

and wanting him dead.

[ Gasping ]

And now for my next impression, Jesse Owens!

Seize them!

Satire is something that touches the heart of everyone.

We can go, "This is a problem that our society has."

Nesteroff: "Blazing Saddles" is comedys indictment of racism.

They darker than us.

And showing its absurdity

in this great parody of an American genre.

[ Electricity crackles ] Life!

Life, do you hear me?!

There was a certain grammar to those old movies,

and Mel Brooks stuck to the form of them.

He just twisted it a little bit here and there,

and its brilliant.

You see his love of cinema in all of his parodies.

"High Anxiety" is a satire of all the Hitchcock films.

And "Silent Movie," obviously, a satire of silent movies.

And "Spaceballs," a satire of George Lucas.

May the Schwartz be with you!

What I love about him is lots of times, people say,

"Oh, that is very funny, but we cant say that."

Mel would go, "Thats very funny,

were gonna say that."

Oh!

It good to be the king.

The magazine Mad magazine,

the edition number one,

the date, 1952.

In the 40s, there were things

that you should never joke about ‐‐

religion, politics.

Things were still sacred.

Mad magazine helped change that.

It was very, very influential.

It was embraced by the comedy community,

and it was sort of like a precursor

to underground comics in the late 60s.

Yankovic: Id never been exposed

to that kind of irreverent humor before.

It was sort of like shaking your fist at authority

in a very clever and funny way.

In case youre not familiar with Mad,

its a magazine of broad satire aimed

at practically everything Americans hold dear ‐‐

sex, success, beauty, patriotism,

anti‐patriotism, pro‐war groups,

anti‐war groups.

You name it, in one issue or another,

Mad has aimed its blunt instrument at it.

Smith: I remember when I was a kid, begging my father

to buy the issue of "King Kong" Mad magazine

because "Network" was also parodied.

And I remember telling my dad,

like, "Dad, theyre doing Network.

Its called Nutwork, and you liked Network,"

trying to sell him on it. Like, youll enjoy this, too ‐‐

as if hed ever read Mad magazine.

Mad magazine was aggressive to a certain extent,

but they always pulled their punches.

It was nothing that would get you thrown out of school.

Now, National Lampoon put nothing in there

that wouldnt get you kicked out of school.

You know, here was a magazine

to hide from your parents, you know?

And your wife.

It had, like, some nasty pictures in it.

These are not magazines you can open in this office now.

Thats all I can say.

[ Laughs ]

They are so politically incorrect.

ORourke: To see people using humor as a weapon

the way that the kids that started National Lampoon did

was just, I thought, "This is great."

Its often the only magazine that a lot of younger hip people

today read.

And why that is is, I think they trust us.

Beatts: Another clue to the success of the magazine

was that unlike Mad magazine,

all the artwork was done very intentionally

to replicate whatever was being parodied.

And that was a big difference from what had been

in the counterculture prior to that.

The 1970s were a fertile time for humor,

and you people were bitter, caustic, smutty,

dirty, funny, and...

Drunk. ...drunk,

and largely outrageous.

The hopes of the 60s had given way

to the frustrations of the 70s.

The Vietnam War was obviously lost.

The civil rights movement had won,

and the argument was over, but, of course, it wasnt.

The craziness of that period is one of the things

that made National Lampoon a success.

People needed to laugh.

Woman: You did a very interesting parody

of "The Joy of Sex," "The Job of Sex."

Kelly: We called the book "The Job of Sex,"

and divided it up into punching in,

down time, overtime, on the job injuries,

and workmans compensation.

Beatts: At the National Lampoon,

there was certainly an enjoyment of being edgy and shocking.

Youre listening to the National Lampoon Radio Hour.

Yankovic: The National Lampoon Radio Hour

was a syndicated radio show

written and produced by the National Lampoon,

which was magazine an audio form.

And thats where I was first exposed

to people that went on to much bigger fame,

people like Bill Murray.

A lot of the "Saturday Night Live" people

started out as National Lampoon people.

Lets do 20 face slaps.

Gilda and John did the show in this sort of weird space.

It was under the Time‐Life Building.

Announcer: They are the cast of the new

National Lampoon show,

which opens this Friday at the new Palladium Cabaret.

And then Lorne Michaels, he came in and poached

all these people.

[ Laughs ]

‐Gilda Radner. ‐Gilda.

John Belushi. And, uh...

Laraine Newman.

Lorne Michaels pitched "SNL" to me as a cross

between "Monty Python" and "60 Minutes."

He said, "Its gonna work."

Man: For outstanding comedy, variety, or music series,

NBCs "Saturday Night."

Id also like to thank the city of New York

for the correct combination of, um...

rejection and alienation,

which keeps the comedy spirit alive.

[ Laughter ]

[ Gasps ]

OBrien: When something really revolutionary happens,

when you first see it, it should look wrong.

And "Saturday Night Live," when you first saw it,

what is this?

Miller: Rule number one is if youre gonna do parody,

you better have somebody who can deliver it ‐‐

both in the writers room and on stage.

Hey, Norton?!

Hey, Robby Bee.

Newman: What made "Saturday Night Live" different

was this phenomenon that happened in the 60s,

which was the youth culture and the youth market.

Our show was the first one

to really have a voice for a younger generation.

Land Shark! Still the cleverest species of them all.

Franken: It was the first time that our generation

was allowed to do TV,

and be on TV and write TV.

And so we were parodying things

that "The Carol Burnett Show" didnt parody.

Your mama eats kitty litter.

Dont nobody talk about my mama!

I got put in charge of producing the commercial parodies

because I had worked in advertising.

You have to establish the product,

say why people need it,

and also allow for the comedy.

[ Laughs ]

I have a certain fondness for Royal Deluxe II

where the rabbi circumcises a baby

in the back seat of a car

to show how smooth the ride of the car is.

Commercial parodies became a kind of trademark

of "Saturday Night Live."

Woman: Hey, You...

Just one whiff does the trick.

Some of their parodies were really speaking to the times.

Hey, you.

In the sexual awakening of the 60s and 70s,

there was a connection to reality.

Woman: Hey, You, for that special someone

you never expect to see again.

Michaels: When you have 18 minutes of commercials

in your time period, then to not comment

on commercials would be ridiculous.

Who am I? Why am I here?

When Im done rolling up this booger,

should I eat it or throw it out the window?

The commercial parodies endure because they reflected

not only the culture at the time...

Super Colon Blow?

...but also the way

that Madison Avenue tried to sell things.

Where are all out of Cracklin Oat Flakes.

How about new Cracklin Oat Flakes,

now with ecstasy?

McKay: We get to talk back to these corporate monoliths.

Everywhere we go, theres billboards.

Every time we turn on the TV, theres commercials.

And its the one time "SNL" has really figured it out

where you can strike back.

I cant hear you, dude!

What?

Piece of crap!

Hey, I think that phone you bought me is busted.

Announcer: Samuel L. Bronkowitz presents "Cleopatra Schwartz."

Never again will one man and one woman

defy such incredible odds.

[ Gunfire ]

Together, no one could stop them.

I dont think parody and satire is important.

But its important to me

because, you know, Ive done it a lot.

"Kentucky Fried Movie" started with Kentucky Fried Theater.

We did these sketches in 1971 in Madison, Wisconsin,

and 1972, moved the show to L. A.

Man: Quiet, please! Hold still.

We wanted to make that show into a movie.

‐Poisonous fish. ‐Poisonous fish.

"Kentucky Fried Movie" was just doing individual bits

without a story.

Im not wearing any pants.

Film at 11:00.

Jerry Zucker: What we were trying to do

with "Kentucky Friend Movie" was get into the movie business.

Theres a certain Z‐A‐Z sense of humor, whatever that is.

For me, the most fun was making David and Jim laugh.

We each trusted the other two as arbiters of whether our ideas

were funny or not.

Something about the three of us, we had a common vision.

Sound your alarm bell now!

[ Alarm blares ]

All right now, everybody, get in crash positions!

McKay: "Airplane" had that anarchic anything‐can‐happen quality.

That, to me, is a seminal movie.

That, to me, is a movie

that changed my perspective on comedy.

Okay, boys, lets get some pictures.

OBrien: These brilliant people had collected

100,000 of the funniest jokes and crammed them into a movie,

and they were so relentlessly funny.

What the hells going on up there?

Every moment of it, it transports you to the land

of magic mushrooms.

If youre wondering what magic mushrooms feels like,

it feels like you are "Airplane."

Letterman: Was the idea for this motion picture

a well‐planned vehicle or more accidental in nature?

We all watched a movie on late‐night television

called "Zero Hour," and that actually was lucky,

because it was essentially,

well, at least a very similar plot

to what "Airplane" is.

David Zucker: We have never found a movie since

that was as perfect for satire or parody.

It worked great, but not a joke in the whole thing.

But we thought it was hilarious.

Youd better tell the captain.

Weve got to land as soon as we can.

This woman has to be gotten to a hospital.

What do you think it is?

Well, I cant be sure yet.

But I know its serious enough to land at the nearest city

with hospital facilities.

Better tell the captain I want to speak to him.

‐Certainly. ‐Its really film noir acting.

Please help me.

Jerry Zucker: Not only does it fit the style of acting

that we love, but also because we had the film to look at,

there were a lot of shots that we just took.

We said, "Hey, this is great."

We wanted to go shot for shot,

so it really would look like an old movie.

In fact, scene for scene, we just copied it.

Because of my mistake,

six men didnt return from that raid.

Because of my mistake, six men didnt return from that raid.

‐We have visitors. ‐Hello.

‐Hi. ‐We have a visitor.

‐Hello. ‐Hi.

Basically, what we do is just set up familiar situations

and then we reverse the audiences expectation

of the outcome.

Would you like to have it?

Thank you. Thanks a lot.

Sure. You ever been in a cockpit before?

No, sir, Ive never been up in a plane before.

You ever seen a grown man naked?

Jerry Zucker: The acting style and the committing

to the absolutely serious dramatic portrayal of the roles

is the essence of the film

and why we insisted on directing it.

You better tell the captain

weve got to land as soon as we can.

This woman has to be gotten to a hospital.

A hospital? What is it?

Its a big building with patients,

but thats not important right now.

Tell the captain I must speak to him.

Certainly.

Leslie was such a character actor,

unknown at the time.

Jerry Zucker: Im amazed that he could have done

all those serious movies all those years,

cause he really is a closet comedian.

And, well, out of the closet after we got through with him.

When I see five weirdos dressed in togas

stabbing a guy in the middle of the park

in full view of 100 people, I shoot the bastards.

Thats my policy.

That was a Shakespeare in the Park production

of "Julius Caesar," you moron.

David Zucker: Even the most crazy, zany comedy

still needs a good story.

By the time we got to "The Naked Gun,"

we knew how to do the plot and the character.

Everywhere I look, something reminds me of her.

We love doing visual puns.

You just have to stay ahead of the audience.

A lot of people see the joke developing.

Its always a contest to beat them to the punch.

Bingo.

The audience cant be expecting it,

otherwise, I mean, it wont be funny.

‐Nice beaver. ‐Thank you.

I just had it stuffed. ‐Let me help you with that.

Jerry Zucker: There are certain kinds of jokes

that the sexual content is in the eye of the beholder.

Were just talking about this stuffed beaver up there.

We dont mean anything sexual, you know.

And so thats ‐‐ thats your fault

if you think that.

Yankovic: The Zucker brothers proved this time and again.

Its somehow not as funny

to have some kind of goofy guy being goofy,

but it works when you have serious people

doing outrageous things.

Jerry Zucker: If we had anything to do with all the great satires

that came after us,

Im thrilled, if we encouraged people.

That smells like pure gasoline.

Theyve done studies, you know.

60% of the time, it works every time.

That doesnt make sense.

Maybe people said, "Oh, gee, I could do that, you know.

That doesnt look that difficult."

Oh, behave.

[ Laughs ] Yeah.

Yeah, baby!

Yeah.

Ladies and gentlemen, Id like to reaffirm

that the art of ventriloquism is not dead.

Would you welcome the very funny Mr. Albert Brooks.

[ Applause ]

I was around a lot of comedians in my group.

I mean, with Billy Crystal and Robin Williams.

Whenever Albert was in the group,

everybody recognized that there was nobody like that.

It was like a challenge dance.

You just stepped back and let him go.

Well, good evening, everybody.

Yes, hello, everybody!

Im Dave. And Im Danny.

Nesteroff: When you see early Albert Brooks footage,

hes often parodying old‐school show business.

Thats what he knew.

His father was a comedian,

his brother is a comedian.

Albert was very meta, and all of his stuff

was about the conventions of the trade.

Danny and Dave was about the lameness of ventriloquism.

You know, Danny, Im a little nervous

being here on television and everything.

Well, why dont you have a cigarette?

That always calms you down.

Great.

Shearer: There was content, there was funniness,

but the target of the comedy

was the standard forms of show business.

Hello.

Im Albert Brooks.

And Im speaking to you on behalf

of the famous School for Comedians.

One of the first things I ever saw him do

was the School for Comedians.

Lets see how these kids are doing.

He was walking past the spit‐take class.

Ive just walked into the room. Now start to drink.

Good. Now I speak.

Guess what! I just heard from the bank,

and not only dont you have any money,

but your sister is dead!

That was funny.

Newman: What was special about him

was his singular vision, his style.

This was alternative comedy, for sure.

During the next hour, you will see the first

in a series of programs entitled "An American Family."

Shearer: Albert had been watching "An American Family,"

which was the first reality show.

It was on PBS.

They spent a year filming a real family,

the "Loud" family.

You got all the boys, I got all the girls.

You cant beat it.

Both of us shared the sense

that there was a lie at the heart of this,

which is that the camera can be there

without changing things.

When we did "Real Life," the movie together,

the underlying motion was to poke fun at that idea.

Welcome home! Aloha!

Look at this now! Ah.

Grodin: And Albert Brooks plays himself, a filmmaker,

and I play the head of this American family

that has been chosen to be filmed for a year.

Honey, do you think its safe for you to be eating

with your heating pad in your lap?

I have terrible cramps, I am bleeding profusely,

and I want to vomit on the table.

[ Chuckles ]

What are you doing?

No, I just want to let them know

that this is not the way we usually talk,

especially at the dinner table.

Sacks: "Real Life" is about reality TV.

And this was years before it had even existed.

So Albert Brooks is dealing on a whole different level.

Whereas with "Spinal Tap," youre making fun

of a group of idiots who are likable,

but not the smartest people in the world.

Hi, Im Rob Reiner.

Ive just directed my first feature film

for Embassy Pictures.

Its called "Spinal Tap."

Its a comedy about a British rock and roll band.

Weide: "Spinal Tap" was a mockumentary.

It was a mock‐documentary.

Dialogue wasnt written, it was improvised,

but it was shot like a documentary.

Reiner: During the "Flower People" period,

who was your drummer?

It was tragic, really. He exploded on stage.

Just like that. ‐He just went up.

He just was like a flash of green light...

and that was it. Nothing was left.

You know, dozens of people spontaneously combust each year.

Its just not really widely reported.

[ Spinal Taps "Big Bottom" plays ]

Shearer: Movies kept getting rock and roll wrong.

And so the real drive of the project was,

"Its not that hard, lets get it right."

♪ My baby fits me like a flesh tuxedo ♪

♪ Id like to sink her with my pink torpedo ♪

♪ Big bottom ♪

Helps to really like something enough to pay

close attention to it

so that when time comes to parodize it,

it comes naturally.

Shearer: Its not parodize lost.

‐Ooh. ‐Oh, thats not bad.

Is that in the film? ‐No, it will be in the sequel.

How much more black could this be, and the answer is...

...none, none more black.

‐Rock and roll! ‐We made this movie,

and the guy who was shooting it, I hired him because he had shot

all these rock and roll documentaries.

And I thought hell be perfect.

Hello, Cleveland! Hello, Cleveland!

And hes watching this, and he says,

"Whats funny about this?

This isnt funny.

This is exactly what goes on."

But, to me, that was a great compliment

because it was saying were capturing real life

what people actually experience in that rock and roll world,

and that, to me, is the best comedy,

the comedy that connects with real experience.

Weide: People said, "Oh, this is so new."

And then you say, "Well, no, actually,

you could take that back

to Woody Allens Take the Money and Run."

Nesteroff: Woody Allens "Zelig,"

"The Rutles" with Eric Idle

was a mockumentary that was a precursor.

But "Spinal Tap" was the one

that really became a huge critical success.

Now, mockumentary is a style

that has infiltrated not just cinema, but television.

That herky‐jerky camera motion

we see on "Modern Family" or "The Office."

Christopher Guests whole trajectory

has been mockumentary.

Hey, judge, look at me.

His stuff is very specific.

‐Its in the crate! ‐Where is it?

Its in the crate!

The fact that it was improvised, that became a style

of storytelling.

♪ Midnight at the Oasis ♪

Nesteroff: And any time that you introduce something

that is effective and nothing like everything else...

Really good.

...thats where you get something thats revolutionary.

♪ Like a surgeon ♪

[ Chainsaw motor revs ]

♪ Cutting for the very first time ♪

Ive just always thought that rock and roll should be fun,

which is why its healthy for me to sometimes

prick the bubble of pretentiousness

that sometimes pervades the industry.

♪ Baby, I love rocky road ♪

♪ So wont you go and buy half a gallon, baby ♪

♪ I love rocky road ♪

♪ So have another triple scoop with me ♪

I give myself several guidelines

and parameters when Im writing my parody songs.

It needs to be funny even if people arent familiar

with the original source material.

But I would say probably 90% of the time,

Im just dealing with what is a very current,

popular mainstream song,

and how can I somehow make that strange?

♪ Just eat it ♪

♪ Eat it ♪

♪ Eat it ♪

♪ Eat it ♪

♪ Open up your mouth and feed it ♪

♪ Have some more yogurt ♪

♪ Have some more Spam ♪

♪ It doesnt matter if its fresh or canned ♪

♪ Just eat it ♪

♪ Eat it ♪

Man: "Eat It" is Weird Als

most successful parody to date.

As you can see, it is a video

as well as a musical parody of Michael Jacksons work.

Yankovic: I did a parody of every single shot in that video,

because people were so familiar with it,

and it was like they knew every little detail.

So all I had to do was just tweak everything

just a little bit, and it became funny.

♪ We been spending most our lives ♪

♪ Living in an Amish paradise ♪

Oswalt: Weird Al Yankovic, when he does a parody

or a satire of a song, its a song that he has to admit

on one level, like, "That is a good song,

but I can have some fun with it."

When he did the song "Perform This Way,"

he asked Lady Gaga,

and she said, "Well, that song is very important.

Id really you rather not you not."

And her fans said, "You let Weird Al do that!"

Like, they got ‐‐ like, "Oh, sorry, I didnt know.

Never mind, go ahead."

♪ Im sure my critics will say ♪

♪ Its a grotesque display ♪

♪ Well, they can bite me ♪

♪ Baby, I perform this way ♪

♪ I might be wearin Swiss cheese ♪

♪ Or maybe covered with bees ♪

♪ It doesnt mean Im crazy ♪

♪ I perform this way ♪

What I like about my job is Im a pop culture Cuisinart.

I get all this input from everywhere,

and I mix it all up, and I spew it out.

Im providing cultural commentary,

and, hopefully, its amusing to people.

♪ I perform this way, hey ♪

♪ Im really not insane ♪

♪ I just perform this way, hey ♪

♪

Thats dandy.

Ho, ho, thats rich, Ill say.

Now, how about some color, stupid?!

Hey!

OBrien: My big influence when I was a kid

was Warner Bros. cartoons.

The timing on those is brilliant.

They were parodying things that I didnt understand,

but it was still really funny.

[ Bell ringing ]

Heil Hitler.

Alterman: One of the things that animation has

that gives it certain advantages

is that on the surface,

it has the appearance of being very safe.

And so animators can be more be more satirical.

It just feels a little bit more benign

because its animated.

Well, Dave, I have a hilarious new movie

coming out on HBO next month.

Its all about 9/11.

The movies called "September 11, 2000‐Fun."

[ Gasping ]

Smith: Anybody thats gonna do parody or satire

can say so many things.

You can go so many places.

Just the practicality of not having

to build these things in the real world

and having an actor do them.

You can have Homer roll out the door, roll out the hill,

oh, and roll back into the car

as it then plummets off a cliff.

Aaah!

OBrien: "The Simpsons" can cram 650 pop culture references

quietly into an episode,

and you either pick it up or you dont.

But its there.

So theyre just the little parody Easter eggs

all over the place.

[ "The Jetsons" theme plays ]

McKay: "The Simpsons," to pretty much all comedy writers,

theyre the cathedral that you walk 800 miles to go see.

I mean, they the are definitive.

OBrien: I always had a little bit of a cartoon sensibility,

and then, lo and behold, all these years later,

I get a job at "The Simpsons."

[ Ominous music plays ]

There was an episode when I worked there

that was a "Cape Fear" parody.

It was all about Sideshow Bob

coming to get his revenge against Bart.

Whats great is that you dont need to have seen "Cape Fear."

The beauty of "The Simpsons" is you dont need

to know the reference in order to still think

that something funny is happening.

[ Humming ]

Hows it going, guys?

Smith: When "South Park" happened,

the vessel of animation, it could look like shit,

it could look like your kid did it.

The car that gets you there dont matter,

its whats inside the car,

its the content thats traveling.

[ Zany cartoon music plays ]

Ramadan!

Hey, look, an infidel!

Ooh! Oh, pig‐kebab!

McGraw: Dont let the fact that its animated

and dont let the fact

that its about a bunch of children fool you.

It is about satire.

This year, were taking the boys on a weekend boat trip

to discuss Jesus role as the navigator of our lives.

A Catholic boat trip?

♪ The Catholic Boat ♪

♪ Its gonna be heading on out today ♪

[ Screaming ]

People who hate religion have, like, really glommed on

to our show, too, cause we make fun of a lot of religion.

Weve made fun of... ‐Everything.

...everything.

I have, in my possession,

an ancient book written on gold plates

that tells of Jesus Christs second coming ‐‐

here, in America!

In America? Really?

That sounds kind of...

♪ Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb ♪

OBrien: Those "South Park" guys clearly just live in a bunker.

Or theyre sociopaths.

They do not care who they offend.

They burn every bridge,

and they have absolutely no fear.

Man: The category is "People Who Annoy You."

Audience, keep quiet.

I know it, but I dont think I should say it.

Five seconds, Mr. Marsh.

All right, Id like to solve the puzzle.

Niggers!

[ Buzzer ]

Huh?

Parker: I dont think weve ever come up with something

and the been like, "Oh, thats really going too far,"

you know, because you cant do that.

The groups that come and get angry at us,

once we start saying, "Okay, we better not

make fun of them anymore,"

then all of a sudden, none of its okay.

It either has to all be okay or none of its okay.

There was just one thing you didnt count on.

That more people besides me hate "Family Guy."

Yeah.

King: Tonight, "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane.

Hes an equal opportunity offender.

Christians, gays, Sarah Palin,

you name it, nothing, no one off limits.

They live in a crummy neighborhood.

‐The Bradys? ‐Oh, hell yeah!

They got robbers, thugs, drug dealers, oh, you name it.

‐You folks want some pancakes? ‐No, thank you.

See, thats the worst we got is Jemimas Witnesses.

What is the line for you? Is there a line?

The JFK Pez dispenser, I wish wed never done.

Really? Yeah.

That was just over the line.

‐Take him out. ‐No!

Check it out. Its a John F. Kennedy Pez dispenser.

Oh.

Well, good thing I still have my Bobby Kennedy Pez dispenser.

Seth MacFarlane pushes the envelope

more than Ive ever seen anyone else do.

Oh, screw this.

I just came over to buy some fireworks.

Its a little bit hateful, a little bit hurtful.

But its ‐‐ Oh, my God, its so fucking funny.

Sorry, Wonder Woman, I got three kings.

Now, lets see your pair.

[ Sighs ]

[ Chuckles ] All right.

Hey, Robin, what are you looking at me for?

Look at her.

[ Gunfire ] McKay: Animation allows you

to do whatever you want.

Its probably the freest form

for your imagination there is.

Down in front! In that sense,

its a comedy writers dream.

If I were 23 again and starting over,

I would beeline towards animation.

You may not be old enough to drive,

but if youre a safe passenger, youve got a job to do.

Gary is checking to make sure that the parking brake

is in the proper release position.

All clear, Gary?

Smith: The ability to tell outlandish stories

and very small jokes at the same time is yours

if youve mastered animation.

Im Han Solo, captain of the Millennium Falcon

and the only actor whose career isnt destroyed by this movie.

[ Hard rock music plays ]

Ewokoniad Sigourneth Juniorstein,

Oklahoma State University.

Eqqsquizitine Buble‐Schwingslow, University of Nebraska.

OBrien: I dont know that the Internet

has changed comedy itself that much.

Theres a lot more of it.

But still when you look at the individual pieces,

its still comedy.

Rushing.

Its the way we experience it thats changed.

Oswalt: The reason that parody is so enduring

and is even stronger now is because

we are in this viral Internet culture,

where most stuff is now watched online in little bits,

and its presented in an, "Oh, you got to see this.

Click on this, youre not gonna believe."

Hey, dont call me bitch! Im a grown man!

God, youre mean.

[ Sobs ]

[ Laughs ]

McKay: The idea was everything. The idea was parody.

Why are there newspapers all over the place?

Political satire, crazy characters, sketches.

It was anything that was fun that you wanted to try

that a network would never put on.

I would like to welcome my first guest,

Jessica Cheststain.

Jessica Chastain.

Jenkins: With "Between Two Ferns,"

you had a program that its a send‐up of talk shows,

so its a satire of talk shows.

Real interested in the work youve been doing down in Haiti.

Tell us a little bit about that.

‐Well ‐‐ ‐Is there a Six Flags

down there? ‐Theres not, no.

Okay, we can move on.

The new media stuff, especially sites

that are just for comedy,

I think that theyre a good thing for the business.

Especially Funny or Die, which is great because

there is a democratization there.

Hey, dude, you want to play Madden?

The things that succeed on the Internet

is happening organically.

If Im seeing a really hilarious video,

its largely because someone shared it.

♪ Its the chronic, what, cles of Narnia ♪

♪ We love that chronic, what, cles of Narnia ♪

♪ Pass that chronic ♪

Man: It all began with this,

when a comedy rap video pirated from "Saturday Night Live"...

♪ I set up Yahoo Maps ♪

...turned up on the web site YouTube,

the suits at NBC took notice.

They didnt like the piracy, but they sure loved the buzz.

It spread like wildfire.

Six million streams.

Miller: Baby‐boomers who grew up with "SNL,"

they stopped watching at a certain point.

And if youre gonna be on network television

for 40 years, you adapt or die.

Lonely Island and those digital shorts

gave a whole new port of entry for younger viewers

who maybe hadnt even seen the show.

♪ He ran for the president of Iran ♪

♪ We ran together to a tropical island ♪

Guthrie: Digital shorts are obviously

how you made your name.

My favorite is "Blank in a Box."

"Blank in a Box." Yes.

Thats what we can say in the morning.

♪ One ♪

♪ Cut a hole in a box ♪

♪ Two ♪

♪ Put your junk in that box ♪

♪ Three ♪

♪ Make her open the box ♪

♪ And thats way you do it ♪

♪ Its my dick in a box ♪

What they do isnt direct parodies, like Im famous for.

But theyll take various memes, if you will, in pop music,

and theyll make it more ridiculous than it is already.

Its a kind of a caricature.

And we have breaking news! Baby Lakeisha has gone missing.

For the next hour, we will ‐‐ whats that?

Nobody cares? Moving on, lets check in with Baby Prudence.

Her 14th day home, and shes still safe and sound.

Key: New media and YouTube and the Internet in regard

to the success of our show is the success of our show.

For example, I was stopped one day on the street by a girl,

and she said to me,

"Ive been with you guys since the beginning,

when you guys were making videos."

She had no idea that we had a television show.

‐Could be worse. ‐Not that bad.

Brennan: Their show was mostly online.

Their show was mostly YouTube clips.

I watched one of their sketches on YouTube, and then at the end,

Jordan and Keegan come on, and theyre basically like,

"Look, we appreciate you watching.

Would you please watch the broadcast show?"

They were, like, begging.

Thats the way networks make money.

Thats where the profit is, is on the network,

is broadcasting.

Jequallin.

Key: We didnt know this was gonna happen.

If you told me that "Substitute Teacher"

was gonna have 98 million hits online,

Im like, "What?"

Uh, do you mean Jacqueline?

Okay. So thats how its gonna be.

Yall want to play.

Okay, then.

Ive got my eye on you, Jequallin.

Key: Or that in the aggregate,

were approaching a billion hits.

This is Key and Peele, a billion?!

Like, "What?!"

[ British accent ] Pack your fucking knifes.

Get out. Youre off the show.

Sorry, Chef.

Because...

you should be working

in the finest restaurant in the world.

‐Thank you, Chef. ‐Just not any world

that I live in.

Mankoff: One of the things that humor and humor and comedy does

is it gets your attention.

If it comes in the form of a joke,

if it comes in the form of satire,

if it has an entertainment value,

you know, people will listen to it.

Working off of something thats in pop culture

is very satisfying because it gives everyone a sense

that were all in on it.

And in a fractured age where people feel very alone,

I think a lot of mankinds desire

is to feel like were together.

I know yall do these parodies on your show.

Oh, thank you.

Well, "thank you," no.

Dont do one of "Empire."

I wouldnt do that.

Okay. Okay.

Well, Im gonna [bleep] things up

if youre [bleep] with me, man.

What if ‐‐ we may be there already.

But what if, as a nation ‐‐ or as a world,

too many of us are spending too much time

parodying and satirizing culture?

No ones gonna be growing crops.

No ones going to be trucking them into cities.

No ones going to be canning goods.

Were all just gonna be,

"Look what I just made. I just made this funny thing."

And future aliens will come to this earth

and find our skeletons holding our devices.

[ Laughs ]

Theyll realize that the Romans collapsed

because there was lead in the water.

We might be killed by too much parody and satire.