Original subtitles

as styles of comedy go spoof movies are

arguably the most despised and

critically panned

despite it creating many of the all-time

greatest movies

like the stool sample of a drug mule you

have to sift through a lot of crap

before you get to the good stuff so

where did it all go wrong

and will it ever come back

[Music]

i've loved spoofs since i was a kid but

what is it

well it's like an adult version of me

but much younger but that's not

important right now

spoof movies are surprisingly hard to

define they're often mixed together with

parody movies which isn't wrong

it takes some kind of predefined piece

of media typically another movie or the

tropes of a genre and then subverts it

in some way

sometimes this is a loving tribute or

pastiche or sometimes it could be

critical or satirical highlighting the

faults of a heightened situation with

some applied logic who throws a shoe

honestly for example take one division

it replicates the look and feel of

sitcoms from different eras but with a

kind of superhero twist

it's a parody but it isn't a spoof

but is sean of the deadest booth or the

south park movie or the third thing the

movie i just made up about how the third

thing in list is always a twist

to me spoof movies feel different and

where you draw the line is subjective

they operate in some kind of alternate

universe where even reality

itself bends around whatever is funniest

where even the most basic

cause and effect could be subverted in

some way

[Music]

there's slapstick non-sequiturs

misdirection

sign gags cartoon physics innuendo you

have balls

i like balls meta humor

satire shrewd sensible compassionate

scrupulously honest she has overcome

all these handicaps to become president

of the united states

exaggeration and so on and on and on and

on and on

that has a lot of crossover with comedy

in general but i think the biggest

difference is that spoof movies carry

with them

a layer of heightened absurdism where it

constantly toys with your expectations

it can remove or lessen any sense of

peril and it can reduce characters into

caricatures

on paper this sounds like this would

ruin any movie like

who would watch a movie where the plot

wasn't important

in 1980 the movie airplane was a

commercial and critical hit

and not because it told a really really

good story

it was the jokes jokes delivered by some

of the finest performers such as lloyd

bridges and of course

leslie nielsen oh but not this guy i

hate this guy

airplane remains one of the most beloved

comedies of all time and

it's a full-on spoof but i wouldn't

blame you if i said spoof movie

and your first thought was oh i don't

know a baby shrek vomiting on a spartan

from 300.

so how did we get from here to here

well i spent all of last month watching

over 60 movies determined to answer the

question

why am i wasting my life but more

importantly what happened

to spoof movies and if at any point you

feel like i forgot a particular movie

just know that i left it out on purpose

just to upset you personally

now let's dissect some frogs that is

wrong

uh oh where were we trigger warnings

why is everyone so sensitive

in 1903 edwin s porter directed the

great

train robbery it was a pretty innovative

filmmaker but what no one expected he

would innovate

would be a remake of his own movie but

starring children instead

called the little train robbery it's not

exactly packed with loves the kids

riding on miniature trains is quite

endearing and there's this bit where the

actor playing the engineer who's meant

to be knocked unconscious gets up

smiles at camera remember it's meant to

be unconscious

and lays down again but this film is

widely credited as being the very

first spoof movie and one that was made

by someone paradine themselves

the 1930s and 40s heralded the era of

the talkies and many of the most famous

silent film stars started making

parodies like buster keaton

lauren hardy and of course charlie

chaplin the great dictator is a

political satire released in 1940

during world war ii this was highly

controversial as the united states was

still

technically at peace with germany at

that point but chaplin was worried about

the growing surge of fascism in the

1930s

boy i'm glad that stopped to never

happen again huh and stated that hitler

must be laughed at the great dictator is

a kind of prince and pauper tale where

chaplin plays both adenoid hinkle of the

fictional country tomania

and the unnamed jewish barber this is a

long movie over two hours long and the

switcheroo doesn't happen till the last

15 minutes

so instead the movie ensures an

emotional hook of the plight

of the jewish people was portraying the

nazis

as cruel foolish and disconnected to the

real world

a bulletproof uniform and 100 perfect

far from perfect the physical comedy is

hilarious it has great set pieces that

could stand alone as comedy sketches

and of course the climactic monologue is

beautiful and still resonates today as

one of the greatest speeches

ever recorded it did me a big cry

the 40s and 50s had several films that

were kind of parody itself

i bet constello would meet several

universal movie monsters and even films

like sunset boulevard and singing in the

rain were movies about making movies so

it was becoming increasingly

self-conscious like me about my fake

nose

meanwhile in the uk the late 50s saw a

movie franchise that would introduce the

camp and saucy humor

of the british seaside postcard so keep

calm

and you may not realize it but i was

once a weak man

once a week so now for any man carry on

is a series of 30 movies no one counts

carry on columbus sorry with a regular

cast of performers including kenneth

williams

[Music]

it's britain's second longest running

film franchise with number one

and with the popularity of dr no in 1962

it inspired spy parodies such as casino

royale no not that one

our man flint get smart and the carry-on

team had a swing with carry-on spine

number oh carry on would only

occasionally make actual parodies like

spying and carry on screaming

it would generally take a broad theme

typically british institutions like the

nhs and camping and then get their

innuendos out i'm afraid he's got a very

small dossier

he's got a very small dossier very small

dossier

and even here james bond isn't the sole

source of humor as it parodies general

spy movie tropes

it has the idiot hero well-meaning and

sometimes capable but otherwise

bumbling and only really succeeds with

dumb luck he is the last resort

it has an easy to follow mission and

even though people die and get injured

it remains light-hearted and never

violent

and it is of course very raunchy

oh don't be a fool we don't know which

side she's on well i'm not fussy

but carrying on into the 70s and the

carry-on team weren't the only british

comedians making parody movies

so keep calm and monty python

life of brian is about a man whose life

runs parallel to jesus christ

like the great dictator this too was

highly controversial

the mere notion of mocking christianity

resulted in numerous calls from

religious groups who never even watched

the movie for it to be

banned this famously culminated in a

1979 tv debate which

itself got a monty python style spoof in

2011's

holy flying circus despite the no one is

safe from satire approach

the film really isn't about christianity

if anything he has more to say about

organized movements than organized

religion as much of the mockery is

pointed at how blindly people follow

brian despite his protests

off how shall we [ __ ] off oh lord

and how overly bureaucratic the

bickering independent movements are

they're gonna look crucify him right

this calls for immediate discussion

with the overall message being think for

yourselves

you're all individual yes

[Applause]

brian is the last sane man and it's the

world around him that's weird

with the odd non-sequitur moment and

people doing the totally illogical like

this roman centurion correcting brian's

latin graffiti not done by sunrise i'll

cut your balls off

despite this lack of logic usually to

infuriate or obstruct the main character

there are many scenes where rational

thinking is applied to highlight a floor

all right but apart from the sanitation

the medicine education

wine public order irrigation road the

fresh water system and public health

what has the romans ever done for us

much like the holy grail before it it

has a story but it's told in a series of

short skits

making the film effectively a collection

of sketches strung together with a paper

thin plot

and it is one of the greatest comedies

ever made

this runs in stark contrast to holy

moses

released a year later in an attempt to

make a moses version of life of brian

but without any of the subversion

rational thinking or even jokes

seriously this film uses anti-climax as

a punch line

constantly

top tip if your script has a lot of but

then nothing happens

maybe don't do that i've found through

the years that it's less funny to watch

characters trying to not do something

that's interesting than it is to watch

them actually doing something and now on

to something completely different

[Music]

mel brooks is easy the grandfather of

spoof comedy bringing his endearing

style of light heartiness to the silver

screen writing and directing films like

the producers blazing saddles

and a direct spoof of star wars entitled

young frankenstein it's a pretty

faithful retelling of frankenstein even

directly remaking some scenes

frederick frankenstein it's pronounced

frankenstein

oh sorry is a descendant who has

disowned his family in shame while an

eccentric

character he is still able to be

something of an outsider

and comment on the weirdness perhaps i

could help you with that hump

what happ but as he gets swept up in

following his ancestors legacy which

abandons the

ashamed descendant premise pretty

quickly it removes his ability to

deconstruct the tropes and instead just

become a participant

we see recurrent elements that brooks

will continue in his film such as

breaking the fourth wall and word play

what knockers oh

thank you doctor slapstick and sign gags

such as this brain depository

mel also loves the toy with

juxtaposition so putting elements in

situations opposed to what we'd expect

like put it on the ritz

this is a slow film brooks makes a

genuine attempt

at replicating the same sense of

atmosphere and it's quite clear

that this is a loving tribute of the

original classic which brings me to

space balls this too was a parody that

follows much of the main beats of its

source of inspiration

in fact brooks worked directly with

lucas for the post-production

this wasn't the first star wars spoof

ever made that's credited to hardware

wars

i must try to find that tractor beam

[Music]

much of the elements we saw in young

frankenstein are here too along with

some great misdirection

but there's more pun based humor feature

cartoonishness and juvenile humor and i

see your schwartz is as big as mine

in case you didn't notice that's a dick

joke

there's also a greater emphasis on

fourth wall breaking metahuma now

actively stepping into the plot

of the movie you've captured their stunt

doubles

which i have mixed feelings on for

example there's this gag about

merchandising merchandising

merchandising

where their real money from the movie is

made which then causes spaceballs merch

to

pop up throughout the film which is

great because it's commenting on

something

the over-commercialization of star wars

but moments where it turns off the movie

or it hits crew members during a fight

all that says is get it you're watching

a movie

which is like being told the same joke

over and over and over again

oh no not again

this has put a better effect in robin

hood men in tights

and it's generally less invasive

[Music]

uh well to the story i mean and it's

kept to more of a wink and a nod

unlike some other robin hoods i can

speak with an english accent

here the humor is less juvenile and more

farcical in nature with more slapstick

cartoon physics and yes

pop culture references

[Music]

i mean obviously robin hood is a pop

culture reference of sorts

but this is where they bring another pop

culture reference outside of the one

you're already referencing

and the joke is i gotta go home alone

now

right right

that thing you know get it and we're

gonna see a lot more of that

don't you worry in fact do worry do

worry a lot

something important to remember about

the films of mel brooks is how uncynical

they are there's the odd satirical

moment but it's largely just

light-hearted silliness the characters

are silly the villains are city the

jokes are silly and none of it comes

from any mean-spirited or cruel angle

there are some elements that haven't

aged well sure but there's a comfort

in how harmless it is the comfort movies

but now for some comfort food anyone up

for kentucky fried

theater this is the bit about airplane

by the way

[Music]

the 1970s were the golden age of

disaster movies like the poseidon

adventure

and there was a film made to spoof the

disaster movie genre and it was called

the big bus it's a disaster movie like

the poseidon adventure but on a domestic

scale

and the intro wants you to know what a

silly premise this is

and now a movie about

the big bus i like this bar fight scene

and the ongoing jokes like the

character's shoulders constantly

fainting oh don't worry

i hardly ever black out unless we're

moving okay dan

let's get moving but perhaps in an

effort to be satirical

people are framed as selfish and

opportunistic even the overly aggressive

lead character

it doesn't really parody the tropes of

disaster movies given that the disaster

doesn't happen until

towards the end of the film instead

taking aim at society

maybe the joker was right all along do

you mean

the chaos emeralds so along comes a

comedy theater trio kentucky fried

theater

aka david zucker jerry sucker and jim

abrahams aka

zazz and for some reason they don't like

detroit

a terrain so rugged so treacherous no

country will claim it

worse than detroit yeah it's worse than

detroit

here's detroit and here's detroit after

the attack

to write their sketches they'd often

record late night tv and pull material

from the commercials and shows they

taped

one night they accidentally taped the

movie zero hour a disaster movie

like the poseidon adventure but on a

plane so they secured the film rights

and planned to remake it as a comedy

however initially no one was interested

so instead the group adapted a selection

of their theater sketches into a movie

called

kentucky fried movie it's a movie length

sketch show and you can see those late

night recordings in action as the

sketches are mostly commercials and tv

shows and

softcore porn some of those airplane

style traits emerge here

and if you're a gemini like me or you

can expect the unexpected

i'm joyce wilson your ass

such as this sequence with the roving

boom mic you've done extensive work with

the great white shark

have you verified this idea of distinct

territory

there's a lot of unrestrained edgy

comedy like a white guy yelling the

n-word to a group of black men so this

movie has

not aged well and without the basic

skeleton structure plot

the pacing drags this is why i think

airplane works so well the pre-existing

script and the ongoing peril keeps the

plot driving forward which ring fences

as to focus on what they do best gags

we have clearance clarence roger roger

what's our vector victor what does

airplane do

differently layers of gangs so whilst

the action is focused on one element

there's something else happening like in

the background or with voice over

there's just

no stopping in a white zone oh really

vernon

we both know perfectly well what it is

you're talking about you want me to have

an abortion

site gags where the comedy doesn't need

dialogue to sell the punchline

almost like a optical illusion airplane

2 which will only get one mentioned in

this whole video has precisely one good

joke in the whole film

and it's a sight gag cast in serious

actors

instead of hiring a group of comedians

they purposely hired actors who have

never done comedy before

this added one of airplanes key

ingredients

deadpan how soon can you land i can't

tell

or can't you take a guess well not for

another two hours

you can't take a guess for another two

hours given there's always something

weird going on having the characters

treat this as normal adds to the

absurdity and delivers some of the most

iconic dialogue surely you can't be

serious

i am serious and don't call me shirley

use of double meaning it's like a double

entendre but without the sexy bits

it's a form of pun and thanks to their

snappiness and beautiful simplicity it

remains super quotable today

nervous yes

first time no i've been nervous lots of

times

and also there is neither the idiot hero

nor the last sane man

no one person stands out and goes huh

well that was weird

this time everything is absurd and no

one is safe

this elements carried over from kentucky

fried movie like the name

rex kramer this time without the n-word

even the numerous flashback sequences

play out like sketches from kentucky fry

movie

it has all the other spoof elements but

also brings dark humor which manages to

be edgy

without resorting to gross out have you

ever seen a grown man naked

for leslie nielsen who performed in

movies like the poseidon adventure

this was a role that forever changed him

into a comedy actor

and would redefine the rest of his

career

1982's police squad was a tv series made

to spoof police dramas much like how mel

brooks's get smart

spoofed spy dramas as with airplanes as

lifted much of the source material

this time from tv crime dramas like m

squad

please squad is amazing employing all

the tricks from airplane but this time

with things they can only do on tv like

title cards recurring characters

and a title sequence with a guest star

who doesn't appear in the episode and

immediately dies

[Music]

they also start doing these establishing

pairs at any new location where they'll

pack in even more site gags

it allows for the episodes to be

textured with jokes without interfering

with the plot of the pace

the series introduces leslie nielsen's

best known character police detective

frank drebin

who are you and how did you get in here

i'm the locksmith

and i'm the locksmith and once again

this is all played incredibly deadpan

married one child that didn't work out

so we married a grown woman

but sadly it was cancelled after just

six episodes because

get this you had to watch it

chronologically to appreciate it

which as we know no tv ever does that

well apart from soap operas reality

shows documentaries mockumentaries

period dramas high fantasy horror

romance sci-fi sports crime so they

moved on to another movie

top secret a kind of elvis presley spoof

mixed together with a world war ii spoof

it has some incredible gags

[Music]

but in an effort to force these two

different movies together

the plot breaks up the fun too often and

causes the whole unstructured thing

to drag and bomb in the box office after

directing ruthless people

zazz along with frequent collaborator

pat proft reunited with leslie nielsen

to pull an old cop out of early

retirement with an iconic cyrus

the naked gun trilogy acts as a kind of

reboot for police squad

repeating some of the old jokes whilst

reinventing frank drebin himself you see

in the tv series frank is way more

serious

even whilst the world is weird he played

the part completely

straight we're sorry to bother you at a

time like this mrs twice

we would have come earlier but your

husband wasn't dead then but in the

naked gun series he's changed to a more

clumsy mr bean-esque character in other

words

the idiot hero

further into the trilogy even more

characters become idiots look at this

thomas in the wastebasket hey that's a

pretty nice clock

i wonder why they throw it out but it

started with frank

it still played largely deadpan wilma i

promise you

whatever scum did this not one man on

this force will rest for one minute

until he's behind bars

now let's grab a bite but instead of

everyone being caught up in this

absurdist world

it's now like everyone is mostly

grounded but frank is the spoof element

so he generates moments of outrage or

big reactions from his elaborate

improbable situations

well when i see five weirdos dressed in

together stabbing a guy in the middle of

the park in full view of 100 people i

shoot the bastards that's my policy

that was a shakespeare in the park

production of julius caesar you

[ __ ] now that frank is an idiot we get

more idiocy

like clumsiness more slapstick

and taking things literally with a

mustache about six foot three

an awfully big mustache there's also a

change now in how

sex scenes are done in spoofs nice

bieber

thank you i just had it stuffed let me

help you with that

gone are the scenes of full frontal

nudity replaced instead with more pg

friendly scenes that turn titulation

into this

[Music]

the third film has its moments which is

a shadow sentiment i can say about

literally every spoof movie but it's

easily the weakest of the batch and an

early sign that the genre is starting to

wane

in an almost desperate attempt to keep

the genre going past its prime

there's a bigger reliance on easy shots

and low hanging fruit

like a lot of pop culture references

and problematic stuff like the big

transphobic twist where anna nicole

smith's character strips off for frank

to reveal a penis

and he runs away to go vomit yeah we'll

get back to that later

despite this the naked gun series is the

comedy renaissance of leslie nielsen at

its absolute peak

and would come to define the kind of

character he would continue to play

for much of his career get him in the

car all right people get him in the car

stand spoof movies operate as a kind of

call and response so the 60s had spy

movies and the 70s had disaster movies

so for the other spoof movies of the 90s

it was time to turn to the defining

genre

of the 80s and i don't mean jasocites

[Music]

another word for spoof is lampoon

however national lampoon didn't make

spoofs all that much

sticking mainly to raunchy comedies like

animal house the vacation series and van

wilder

but they did dabble with a lethal weapon

parody called

loaded weapon one give me a name what

are your parents supposed to do that

a bold assumption they're much like

doug's first movie

the problem is compared to the stuffy

spy in disaster movies

action movies likely for weapon were

already very self-aware so this didn't

really offer anything

new

good thing we use valet parking taxi

perhaps in an attempt to address this

last action hero is an arnie movie set

within an arnie movie

which uses a regular kid who is pulled

into the cinema screen

to point out the illogical nature of

action movie tropes

i heard you were here i thought you

could use some clothes no one finds this

a little convenient hey kid

you always said it's a movie didn't you

much like how galaxy quest has actors

from a tv show

forced to live the real thing which in

turn addresses the tropes of star trek

and sci-fi as a whole

there's no useful purpose for there to

be a bunch of choppy crushy things in

the middle

of a horse it makes no longer sense why

is this here

because it's on the television

this episode was badly written these

aren't really

spoofs more like meta contextualization

a way to have an

outsider address the tropes of a genre

but still with some

real world grounding much like how a

mockumentary like spinal tap

uses an outsider influence of a camera

crew to highlight the absurdity

a parody for sure but not technically a

spoof

and if you want to fight me on this then

please don't because i'm very weak

in 1991 sas members abrahams and proft

created

hot shots starring charlie sheen

charlotte it's a parody mostly of top

gun

and it is an excellent spoof

it runs with the cartoonish elements and

slapstick but remains delicately

balanced by

actually telling the plot this ensures

that one side doesn't outweigh the other

and the performances being kept straight

and deadpan really allow the comedy

to stick the land in you're behaving

like children he's being a jerk

i'm not our two two two two two

that's it the exception to this is

admiral benson

pudding no thank you sir he remains the

outer now oddball with his slapstick and

exaggerated war injuries from the

pentagon sir we just decoded it oh good

here help me with this my eyes are

ceramic

a bazooka round a little bigger but

because the weirdness is mostly kept to

one secondary character

and with lloyd bridge's excellent comedy

performance it never outstays its

welcome

oh by the way i want to thank you for

having us over to dinner the other night

cheryl and i thought the stroganoff was

marvelous but sir we didn't have dinner

the other night

really well how was i

and who's this cheryl this was followed

up with hot shots part d

this time focusing on rambo while it

still has a

ton of funny moments

there is a noticeable tonal shift to

more goofy

more crass and even more pop culture

references

i love you in wall street the first bomb

had pop culture emphasis too but they

were mainly limited to montages

this time it's just a lot of stuff

happening because it's

something you've heard of before and

that's it that's it it does offer more

of a commentary on action movies

[Music]

war it's fantastic but when the villain

is a clumsy domesticated saddam hussein

with a lisp

the balance is off suffering

the last spoof to really explode in the

late 90s was austin powers

i don't even know what this is this sort

of thing ain't my bag baby one book

swedish made penis in larger pumps and

me this sort of thing

is my bag baby you could argue this is

meta contextual was the story of a man

from the 60s brought to the 90s would be

a

fish out of water but everyone is still

a

bit silly so not really

we have some great physical comedy and

duple entendres did you get my other

gift

yes basil nice rack but now we're seeing

an increase in

cringe comedy in spoofs given the

increase in self-awareness in

and of films like action movies it would

make

sense that cringe would awkwardly arise

to embarrass our empathy

because we're so gosh darn aware of

things tropes are still being challenged

like dr

evil son pointing out the floor in every

bond villain's plan

wait aren't you even gonna watch them

they could get away

no no no i'm going to leave them alone

and not actually witness them dying i'm

just going to assume adult went to plan

what

[Music]

and elizabeth responded to austin's

outdated free love attitude

did you use protection of course i had

my nine millimeter automatic

in fact despite austin being such a

sex-driven character

i'm pleased to see that he refuses to

take advantage of a drunken elizabeth

without question

it may be just basic human decency but

it shows that this character isn't just

a two-dimensional caricature

and after all these movies it's nice to

see one that has actually aged well

but it was clear spoof movies were a

dying breed

a corpse starting to rot

and the only way to bring spoof movies

back into

life was to do something

scary

oh that's good

after directing i'm going to get you

sucker keenan ivory wayans created the

19th tv series

in live in color a sketch comedy show to

rival snl

it would launch the careers of

performers like jim carrey and jamie

foxx and included many of his family

members including his brothers

marlon and sean it was hugely popular

but due to the network's censorship and

creative control

keenan and the siblings would leave the

show throughout the third of four

seasons

so the weigh-ins turned their attention

back to movies and made

don't be a menace to south central

whilst drinking your juice in the hood

god i sound so white richard and

starring marlon and sean wayans is a

classic spoof in nature but much

darker in tone

hey there's some [ __ ] much of the comedy

goes for big reactions like shock

violence and gross out probably as a

result of trying to mash

up many movies together not a lot really

happens it feels more like a series of

slice of life moments should i wear this

technique

with the high tops or should i wear this

uzi

with my low tops there's one

particularly good scene where they go to

a store and are accused of shoplifting

by the asian store owners

all the while there is a white guy

blatantly stealing everything

hey

you drop something the the high ground

is lost with

a sucky sucky five dollar joke how much

for this candy bar

five dollars what better give me some

sucky sucky with that

five dollars so a mixed bag overall

don't be a menace came out in 1996 the

same year as the slasher movie

scream scream briefly revived the

slasher genre with its subversive meta

take

it's pretty much a parody of horror

while still being a horror much like how

deadpool is both a superhero movie and a

superhero parody

superhero landing yeah that's really

hard on your knees

totally impractical they all do it

scream was huge so

sean and marlon set out to create a

spoof directed by kenan called

scary movie this was a smash hit

at the box office and it's clear to see

why following the footsteps of american

pies revival of the raunchy sex comedy

scary movie is loud wild and very

very crude

[Music]

it's probably the most impactful spoof

movie since airplane because it

radically alters the genre for a teenage

audience meaning

more sex more drugs and it reinvents

traditional spoof elements like

misdirection hey yo dawg will this shirt

make me look gay

no man

about now but the inherent problem with

making a spoof about scream

is like action movies before it scream

itself was already very subversive

it's like i've seen this all before they

had a killer year old high school shorty

nah it was in this movie scream same

dialogue and everything this is ill

shriek if you know what i did last

friday the 13th came out the same year

with the exact same premise but at least

tried to acknowledge the rules of spoof

much like how scream does with horror

there are certain roles you have to

follow in a parody situation if you want

to survive okay number one

exaggerate everything number 88

except the ridiculous is logical scary

movie does poke fun at the horror tropes

as well reporting live for black tv

white folks are dead we're getting the

[ __ ] out of here but to parody something

that's already a parody

generally results in the humor aiming

much lower

it is cruel and sadistic and the

characters are reprehensible

which isn't unexpected in a slasher

movie those kids have got to die after

all

but the most mean-spirited part is the

portrayal of the disabled special

officer

doofy the standing for screams dewey

portrayed like

this i got poopy it was good

look i loved scary movie when i saw it

in the cinema 20 years ago

and there's still much that holds up let

me just say

uh the killing of these these teenagers

has been tragic

but uh hey you know [ __ ] happens the

weighers have never been beholden to

political correctness much like their

wheelchair-bound character and don't be

a menace

but the relentless cruelty aimed at

doofy just feels like

such a cheap shot especially compared to

the more cutting satire of don't be a

menace

catch

the man this is why i much prefer

scary movie 2.

hey will you shut the [ __ ] up and let me

sing

after scary movies massive success

miramax green lit a sequel to come out

the following year

leaving the weigh-ins with nine months

to make the whole thing

this grueling process impacted the

film's story turning it into a kind of

hodgepodge of various horror film

influences held together by a string of

jokes

like a series of moments she won't eat

she won't talk

the child won't even let me touch her

yes

sometimes you have to give them candy

and while it's not perfect given what

the weigh-ins do when they actually have

more time

this is a marked improvement because

they had no time for bigger set pieces

they had to fill the blanks in the

script with more pop culture references

you are the weakest link goodbye like

they redid the wazap

budweiser advert in the first film which

at least fit into the

ghost-faced phone call thing

but this time it's just an out of

nowhere remake of that

nike basketball advert you remember that

but this aside because it was more gag

focused this got bigger laughs out of me

than the first movie well your boy's

just gonna sit there with your mouth

open or someone can offer me a seat

scary movie was the shot of adrenaline

the spook genre desperately needed

so what happened next despite turning

around a hugely successful sequel within

a year

when the weigh-ins asked for more money

once again their creation was taken away

from them scary movie would continue to

produce progressively worse sequels but

now with some of the zazz team

while the sequel sequels cast spoof

movie veterans charlie sheen and leslie

nielsen

they continually tried to force multiple

film plots together and not

just horror but there's no subversion to

it

it's just pure noise and without the

weigh-ins touch

it's completely toothless as for the

weigh-ins they would continue but now

more on their own terms

of the 50 000 people that call

themselves actors there's only 500

working actors of that 500 most of them

are white

there are a few rules for black people

but those rules are usually for the

weigh-ins brothers

scary movie co-writers phil bowman and

buddy johnson would also co-write not

another teen movie

a spoof that targets the tired tropes of

high school romance movies

while still being a gross out sex comedy

also naked chris evans marvellous

marlon wayans would go solo and make a

haunted house in 2013.

and you know what i like this movie a

lot wouldn't it be great if we all spent

the night

well that's an interesting idea what do

you think of that malcolm naked

sleepover

no no it's weird oh yeah but it's

definitely gonna be weird but you're

saying are you saying we are good or

weird bad

it's naturally a paranormal activity

spoof but it uniquely dedicates a lot of

time allowing us to get to know these

characters

now in a kind of hidden camera meets

mockumentary kind of way

marlon's usual cartoonish performance is

reigned in and saved for the bigger

reactions

what if it bites me it's not a zombie

it's a ghost but this allows us to

become endeared to this sweet couple who

feel like they have an

actual dynamic nobody's going to hurt

your my watch

okay okay unless a [ __ ] got a gun

then you on your own

what it has its problem area sure but

what i'm seeing here

is a huge growth from the scary movie

days a more recent marlin wayans spoof

fifty shades of black

sadly reverts back to the low hanging

fruit of early weigh-ins movies but

given that he's one of the few still

actually trying

there's hope for the genre yet fun fact

if you look at who wrote scary movie one

you may also see the names

friedberg and seltzer on there they get

a code credit because they had

also written a scream spoof and their

script got bought just so that it could

be

permanently shelved but now their names

are attached to a movie

they did all right and had nothing to do

with what a fun fact

so now you may be wondering who are

freeburg and seltzer

oh god

there's no nice way to say this so i'll

just say it

writer slash directors friedberg and

seltzer

are a scourge they're a plague on our

cinematic landscape

a national shame a danger to our culture

a typhoon-sized natural disaster

disguised as a

filmmaking team a hollywood monster

wreaking habit on the minds of america's

youth

and setting civilization back thousands

of years

[Music]

okay then in 1993 leslie nielsen starred

in a series of parody golf instructional

videos

starting with bad golf made easier the

difference between a one dollar ball

and a three dollar ball is two dollars

this was directed by rick

friedberg and during filming he

presented a script to leslie nielsen

that his son had written

and so in 1996 jason friedberg and his

creative partner aaron seltzer got their

first movie credit

for spy hard

[Music]

directed by daddy freeburg this almost

feels like a spoof of a spoof

in that it has all the style with none

of the substance

for example here's a joke from airplane

this woman has to be gotten to a

hospital

a hospital what is it it's a big

building with patients but that's not

important right now

and here is the exact same joke in spy

hard

sir i hate to disturb you but we're

picking up something very interesting on

the compound infrared detection system

well what is it oh well it's this really

neat security system sir it picks up the

body here

and they do this twice sir we've

intercepted a very disturbing satellite

transmission from our listening post on

the rock of gibraltar

well what is it it's this really big

rock sticking out of the water there on

the south coast of spain

it's like they're copying without

understanding

why it works they also sporadically

throw in one-liners that aren't

jokes you better get out of here i'll

see you back in the half-hour

you know i'm not sure they know how to

tell a joke

for example during this nightclub scene

which becomes a pulp fiction reference

for no reason

there's this guy caught in the crossfire

and then he's hit again later with a

crossbow

or is that a sword anyway later during

this nun scene which also becomes a

sister act reference for no reason the

nun throws a scalpel which hits him

rule of three well done except the scene

actually has the guy

turned up before the punchline which

ruins the punchline

so instead of the basic joke format of

setup beat punchline

it's now set up punchline beat punchline

it's like they're trying to idiot-proof

the film by showing you what the

punchline will be

before they finish telling the joke and

they do this

all the time

to take his proposal

[Music]

what the hell what he came on to me

didn't i dog your wife's at home

[Music]

leslie nielsen does his best with the

material provided but spy heart's only

saving grace is weirdos theme song

[Music]

for the next movie jason freeburg and

aaron seltzer would take the director's

chair and their debut movie was 2006's

date movie this is a deeply sadistic

film and says that an

overweight alison hannigan is

undeserving of love

and hideously disgusting to everyone

around her

until she gets all the fat drained out

of her like they're overhauling a car

they try to add that she's disgusted

because she has bad

feet or a hairy back but it's clearly

the cellulite and fat that these people

are reacting to

and this is within the first 15 minutes

of the film

what happens in the rest of the film

nothing in one word this movie is

shallow there's a rise in pop culture

references that do

nothing other than be the equivalent of

dangling shiny keys in front of a child

hey is it too late to crash the funk

your daughter wedding there's scenes

that drag out forever and don't

go anywhere and characters with no

personality who

have jack oh wait is this actual

character growth

this isn't what you wanted it's what i

wanted

i was wrong about grant he's a good man

even like you when you were butt ugly oh

well they [ __ ] it

it was at this point any remaining shits

were never given again

epic movie is the first amalgamation of

multiple movies rammed together like

some kind of hollywood monster

and when it's not a pointless pop

culture reference it's gross out

okay look i don't mind low brow humor

for example my all-time favorite new

grounds animation

is two butts fighting

but this isn't some low budget internet

video this is a multi-million dollar

movie

you could see this as a time capsule of

the state of pop culture in 2007

but it has nothing to say about pop

culture

nothing about the religious undertones

of narnia nothing about the

popularization of conspiracy theories by

the da vinci code

nothing about the abundance of

adaptations or remakes just

what if harry potter was a pervert

[Laughter]

meet the spartans is a 300 spoof or a

300 rip-off as they call it

well harry knowles at ain't cool news

says this movie is just a cheap rip-off

of 300.

which doesn't make sense it's a spoof

anyway

it pulls back on forcing different movie

plots together but still finds ways to

force references in anyway

like for no reason carmen electra turns

into venom spider-man

and fights this guy who's like sandman

now and there's incessant cruelty aimed

at female celebrities

like they attack lindsay lohan for no

reason paris hilton stands in for the

deformed outcast britney spears gets

kicked down a hole

because you know a woman having divorced

her husband lost custody of her children

entering drug rehab and having a public

breakdown deserves to be taken down a

peg or two

get [ __ ] britney oh and uh leave

britney

alone is also referenced it just plays

on the transformers chest

for no reason oh and of course if it's

not pop culture

it's gross out

as of right in this video imdb ranks

meet the spartans as the 22nd

worst movie of all time epic movie is

12.

number one is disaster movie reviewers

say

it would be the worst movie ever made if

it was actually a movie at all and

i just don't see how anyone could not

find disaster movie

one of the worst films of all time the

opening quote of this segment was from a

review of disaster movie

so it's pretty bad then

disaster movie goes back to the epic

movie style of forcing multiple movies

together

somehow with even less cohesion pop

culture references come from

everywhere and again for no reason

they'll just walk in

say something now you're pissing me off

and leave

they're not even popular references like

the film opens with a parody of 10 000

bc and who remembers the movie 10 000 bc

but it came out in 2008 so disaster

movie just

froze it in because it's quantity not

quality

it's stuff it's just stuff noisy noisy

stuff

sure kung fu panda is here batman is

here beowulf dr phil hellboy

it doesn't matter whatever fills the

time here's hannah montana

under a rock and she just talks and

talks and talks and nothing happens and

she keeps talking and it goes nowhere

and it's just

stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff

oh gross out exhale

in many ways the style of free burger

seltzer defy the standard of spoof

movies

it's largely instant gratification with

little care for its shelf life

if it can make you laugh today it

doesn't matter if it will make you laugh

tomorrow and they know they're not going

to win any awards like how on the date

movie dvd they invite

actual movie critics to lay into the

film on the audio commentary

which is really funny and by about this

point right here people started walking

i envied this guy

these movies feel like a pair of dudes

spitballing ideas where nothing was off

limits

on the one hand that sounds quite nice

liberating free form

dare i say fun but their machine gun

fire approach to gags just led to

constant cheap shots which didn't help

the frail reputation

of the spoof movie genre free bergen

seltzer did not kill

spoof movies we did

[Music]

the late 2000s early 2010s were a tough

time for spoof movies in cinemas

there were successes like johnny english

is like superhero movie

and boxed off his bombs like walk hard

in my dreams you're blowing me

some kisses the deserved bankruptcy of

pure evil incorporated

brought an abrupt end to the scary movie

franchise

and following vampires suck freeburg and

seltzer left regency

and no one rushed to fill their place so

it seemed like studios didn't want to

make spoof movies anymore

and audiences didn't really care all

that much this led to spoofs being made

more independently and released in

limited cinemas

straight to dvd or video on demand

because if they won't do it

we'll make it ourselves in order to be

more of a surefire hit on an

oversaturated marketplace

these films tend to be more on the nose

about what kind of film you're getting

such as 2014's the hangover games where

various pop culture references are

forced to compete with each other

now if this sounds like another freebird

and seltzer movie to you

that's because they also made their own

hunger game spoof god damn it

this could have had potential like

unbeholding to any studio this was an

opportunity to

critically analyze the state of pop

culture a response to the free bergen

seltzer

era of pop culture obsession instead

it's exactly like a free birkin seltzer

movie i'm not a racist

i got like eight black guys on my

fantasy football team

i mean not the quarterback obviously

that's a ticking man's position

seriously there's literally a pair of

characters called gratuitous nudity and

that's their entire personality

tits my uh friend is stuck

the hungover games was made by silva

nitrate who in 2010

made the 41 year old virgin who knocked

up sarah marshall and felt super bad

about it

now you might be thinking that this

would be a cut in deconstruction of judd

apatow movies

um i'm sorry is that your ball sack

observant you are no lie you didn't

think that at all like i said before

subverting something that's already a

subversion tends to aim much lower

like scream to scary movie but by

subverting comedy movies

this becomes a desperately unfunny film

[ __ ] is that smell i don't [ __ ] know

dude

i should stress but the problem isn't

with gross out or

toilet humor because it can be done well

suddenly it happened

[Music]

but the so-called edgy humor the 41 year

old virgin resorts to

is just lazy shock is easier to write

than comedy because we all know what is

not allowed so you can just say or do

that

without any subversion or commentary and

pretend it's funny something's gotta

hold

me willy baby hands oh good god lord the

baby's got a hold of me wanker but the

goal at that point

isn't to make you laugh it's to upset

you

and boy do they lap that [ __ ] up like oh

boo hoo

snowflakes triggered much which you know

is actually a sign of a really good

comedian actually

we have a rape scene played for laughs

and it's not the first

just a chastity belt that's going to

chafe my

willy oh you know what

you got altar boy we have transphobic

jokes and it's not the first

[ __ ] look at her hands i'm

pretty picky

i'm a [ __ ] i thought you knew i want

to be a woman

from now on i want you all to call me

loretta

what it's my right as a man you're

getting lucky tonight

he doesn't know you're a guy and how

many times do we need to see

a woman having a [ __ ]

the 41 year old virgin is the

culmination of all the

nastier elements spoof movies have

passed on to one another

like a photocopy of a photocopy getting

worse and worse over time

now i don't think they were necessarily

put in with malicious intent

but when a genre is based around filling

scenes with as many jokes as possible

the temptation is always there to take

the cheap shot

but we have also seen they don't need to

and going forward if spoof movies are to

shake off their trashy reputation

then they need to get out of the trash

which brings me to airplane mode

starring noise enthusiast logan paul

this was planned to have a huge release

on youtube potentially sparking a brand

new trend of movie distribution

until logan's trip to the suicide forest

which nuked the whole deal with google

and the movie was later just pooped onto

itunes in 2019

with much less fanfare coming full

circle this is a loose remake of

airplane

queen no thank you i take it black

like my man how would you like

it like i like my women black and full

of cream

very loose but it has more in common

with the edgier humor of south park and

family guy

or a knockoff approximation of it bag

check

what why sir i just have a laptop you've

been randomly selected by our advanced

safety algorithm

for an extensive anal cavity search

i have 911 reasons not to trust this guy

there is an attempt to be a spoof movie

wait

i'm not on the pill

but instead of subtlety it goes for

screaming

instead of wordplay it goes for memes

and instead of creativity it goes for

tonally it is very nihilistic the

characters are cruel and insidious

and the portrayal of the influences seem

to be completely non-human

or maybe in la that's just normal i

think i'd rather die the result

is uncomforting and gives little to

actually root for

it's like they had to add this hannibal

lecter-esque character to be the

unambiguous villain

to avoid being the villains themselves

logan is somehow both the last sane man

and the idiot hero which means he's not

there to point out the flaws and neither

is anyone else

losing all grounding in reality there is

a vague attempt at self-aware satire

like with the influences

and the villain talking like a youtube

prankster

but overall this plane flight feels more

like an ego trip

[Applause]

you're a [ __ ] hero shut up becky

well now what in his review of 2015's

the walking deceased

matt fowler says it's hard to say in

this new world of honest trailers

where parody fits in anymore but what is

grief

if not love persevering the internet is

so responsive to current media trends

with parodies and memes

it renders any films hitching their

bandwagon to those same media trends

completely obsolete so outside of low

budget independent films

spoofs have stopped trying instead they

go for more

evergreen intellectual properties like

2017's lego batman

the best batman movie

[Music]

or 2018's holmes and watson the worst

batman movie would you like some heroin

it's safe bets like this that prevents

us from getting something

totally inventive like naked gun except

they're trying to remake naked gun and

it's like

don't don't do that so what else can

spoof movies do

to fix themselves watching all these

movies one thing i hadn't realized

before was just how

horny they were like lots of the nude

and the crude

the [ __ ] and the bimbo it's all a bit

male

gaze it doesn't escape my notice that

out of all the notable spoof movies i'd

watched

none were directed by women so i added

some more movies to my watch list

and frozen challenges some of the disney

princess tropes clueless takes jane

austen's emma but with a 90s twist

the love witch is a pastiche of 60s

horror cb4 is a mockumentary of a phony

rap group but i'm a cheerleader is a

romantic comedy juxtaposed against gay

conversion therapy

but none of these are really spoofs in

fact

shrek of all things is the closest we

get to a spoof movie

directed by a woman although it's

actually co-directed

by vicki jensen oh [ __ ] in wayne's world

i nearly forgot about wayne's world

we're not worthy we're not worthy

not sure what it's technically spoofing

but it has big spoof energy

excellent so maybe in future the boys

club could invite more women to join in

just a fall but looking at the spoof

movie genre as a whole

they should be pushing envelopes instead

of pushing tests

they should be independent of their

source material instead of

co-dependent on it and they shouldn't be

afraid to take

shots but just be considerate about

which way they're aiming

to whichever movie studio who finally

decides to bring back spoof movies once

and for all

i just want to tell you good luck we're

all counted on you

oh hi welcome to the end of the video as

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snap them up fast i can only snap with

this hand i can't i can't with this hand

i don't know why

it's like i'm just the same same hand

really

opposite right okay bye

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[Music]